Brighter - extras
by y8ay8a
Summary: Small stories set before the main story. A journey on one part of self-discovery and on the other of obliviousness.
1. Chapter 1

Blake didn't know why they'd let themselves get swept away with this. Her gaze followed her white-haired teammate's motion as she refilled the brawler's glass with liquor that should never have made it past the academy's gates. Yes, the legal drinking age in the kingdom of Vale was eighteen. Yes, today was Yang's birthday, and as they were now all of age, it wasn't illegal per se for them to be celebrating. Anyways, that had been Yang's explanation as she'd smuggled the bottle onto school grounds, making sure to mention Ruby would not be having any. Weiss had nevertheless reminded her that what was technically legal in the kingdom didn't matter if it went against the establishment's rules. Blake would never be able to retell what twisted logic Yang had unfurled, but it had somehow had the heiress give in and… this brought them to now.

The faunus's gaze slid to the glass in her own hand. It was too sweet. Leave it up to Yang to dredge up something like this oversized bottle of pink and creamy, strawberry-flavored tequila. "How can you drink this stuff, Weiss?"

"It's not half as bad as I expected when I saw the label," she allowed, refilling her own glass. Ruby attempted to grab it but wasn't fast enough.

"Hey! Th…This thing is good," the blonde indignantly argued, swinging her arm around her partner's shoulders as she clinked their glasses together. "It tastes like c-cake. With the…b-… th-the bonus of getting us drunk."

Blake tilted her head to try and throw her friend an unimpressed scowl. "Are you drunk already….?" she dared ask, appalled.

"I uh. _Yes_ ," Yang acknowledged, somehow slumping over her more. "We drink, we drunk, yeah?"

"No," she flatly answered. " _You're_ drunk. Weiss and I are fine."

"Th-then have more!" She happily hollered, nudging the hand in which Blake held her glass.

With a sigh, she made herself gulp down the rest of her drink if only to make her friend happy – which it did as she cheered. Yang promptly reached for the bottle and unsteadily refilled the glass Blake had just emptied.

"I'm surprised you can't hold your alcohol better," Weiss commented, watching the blonde struggle with her coordination.

Blake sipped at her newly replenished glass. "How come you hold yours so well? Didn't you have more than she did?"

Weiss shrugged, finishing what was maybe her fourth drink. "My parents would allow us wine at dinner once we turned twelve. It was meant to prepare us to hold our own in those snobbish receptions their friends and business partners love to hold," she explained. "I guess I built up some tolerance."

Yang abruptly bounced up, snatching the bottle from the youngest member of the team's reach as she had attempted to subtly drag it her way.

"Come on! Please! Can I just _try_ it?" Ruby pleaded for the umpteen time that evening.

Instead of verbally refusing her yet again, the birthday girl just pressed her hand to her sibling's face, forcing her back as far as her arm length would allow her.

Their underage leader gave a dissatisfied grunt and crossed her arms to sulk while her white-haired partner scoffed. "You let her stick her nose in dangerous criminals' business and get in trouble with them, you're fine with her fighting beasts like Grimm, but _that's_ where team-mom draws the line? A sip won't hurt."

"Weiss!" Ruby's mood lit up at once; it was Yang's turn to offer a displeased groan.

"F-fine!" The blonde hiccupped, extending her own drink in her sibling's direction. It was grabbed from her as soon as offered and Ruby took a hefty gulp which she promptly proceeded to choke on. She coughed violently, spitting some of it on the desk they'd dragged away from the wall to sit around and earning herself an array of different reactions from her teammates; a offended yelp from her own partner, an amused snort from her sister and Blake simply gave a quiet sigh.

"It's disgusting!" Ruby wheezed. "I thought you said it tasted like cake!"

"B-but it does…?" Yang slurred, plopping back down as she took back her drink to finish what was left of it.

"If she's never had alcohol… no matter how sweet the drink is, its taste will overpower the sweetness," Weiss pointed out as she helped her partner sponge up her mess.

"Ohh, yeah… You should've… sh-should've seen _my_ first time….!" Yang burst in a hearty laugh, half falling over to her side to lean heavily on Blake again.

Though she had gotten exceptionally comfortable with her teammates, Blake had nevertheless always been one to get quite ruffled with having her personal space intruded upon. And this evening…Yang would _not_ stop intruding on it. Though she oddly couldn't say she actively disliked it. After all, if she _did_ truly dislike it, she would've changed seats to be out of her grasp a long time ago. It _did_ evoke an uneasiness that she could not for the life of her identify. In the end, she repeatedly willed herself to brush it off and let her drunken friend celebrate her birthday, constant skinship and all.

As Yang refilled her glass, which they probably shouldn't have let her do given how intoxicated she already was, her own previous words appeared to jog her memory and she jolted upright in her seat. " _Oh! RUBY,_ " she called, moving away from Blake to drag her sister's chair closer. "Y-y-you're sixteen," she declared as if she'd just realized it.

"I've been sixteen for a while now, this is old news," she retorted, unimpressed.

"Yeasss but…" Her grin was so ominous, all three of them stayed very still. Yang seemed unaware of this as she leaned over to Ruby. "We….di…didn't, didn't… … _talk_."

She squinted her silver eyes. "Yang, we talk every day."

" _Talk…_ talk," the blonde emphasized the word as she leaned even closer to her victim. The monochrome pair instantly glanced to each other.

Ruby still didn't understand. "What?"

"Is she… going there?" Weiss incredulously whispered.

"I think she is," the faunus dreadfully confirmed.

"What _talk_ talk?"

Yang slammed both hands on her sibling's shoulders to hold her still as she stared her down, very serious. "Sixteen was wh—when I had my _first time_ ….not a-alcohol first time," she announced. "Y-y-you need to be prepared if i-if you… you—"

"Oh no!" Ruby cut in. "Yang, _that_ talk?!" She instantly balked, horrified.

"Listen to y…your sister," she interjected as authoritatively as she could muster. "...'Sss is important."

"I know it is, but I don't _need_ the talk, Yang…!" she defended, looking more than a little desperate to avoid this. "I know how it works! Be safe, use protection, and anyways, I'm not about to—"

"By all means, Ruby," Weiss interjected. "Let her. This promises to be entertaining."

Blake could only stare at the heiress in shock. Her speech wasn't slurred, but her typically sharp expression seemed to be melting; she stared dazedly though half-lidded eyes. The alcohol was obviously getting to her too.

Yang whirled around faster than her level of inebriation should've let her. "MRS. SCHNEE," she bellowed, "th-…this is no laughing matter," she managed in what may or may not have been genuine indignation. She then leaned forward across the desk, waving an impressively committed finger at the white haired lady. "It's of… _utmost_ importance for a- a young woman's h-healthy physiological and p-p… psychological development."

The dark haired faunus blinked slowly. On one hand, she was very impressed Yang had managed this sentence at all. On the other hand, she realized that the fact that she found her partner's sudden change to such proper language very coherent was probably an indicator of how intoxicated she also was herself. Had she drank this much?

"I couldn't agree more," Weiss concurred with a mellow nod. "So go ahead, we're all listening."

Blake was much more curious about what her partner would say on this topic than she would've cared to admit. After all, the team had been living together for over a year, and they surprisingly had yet to truly address any of their potential romantic prospects _or_ past relationships. There hadn't been _any_ gossip or any form of girl talk happening in their dorm room, and the faunus realized she knew nothing of her friends' outlook on dating, romance, or sexuality. Weiss had been the only one to sort of graze the matter, given she'd expressed enough interest in Neptune as well as enough disinterest in Jaune to give a general idea of what she was looking for. But even on that, there still had been no chatter at all among the team.

Her eyes fell on Yang again. Was her partner interested in dating? …Had she been checking out anyone? As questions started to unfurl one after another through her mind, a sudden tug coming from somewhere deep down in her gut gave her a sinking feeling she couldn't quite identify.

Yang scooted closer to her sister. "R-Ruby," she started with all the seriousness she seemed to be able to muster. "I know you k-know…not t-to be stupid. S-so that's not what we- -we..ee're gonna talk about. Th-thing is at your age…. no one knows what they're doing," she declared before pausing. "…No one _ever_ really knows wh-…what they're doing," she then added, more to herself. With a shake of her head, she brought herself back on track. "Th-this is _why_ , you can… you can a—at least learn from a-all the mistakes I made. And …y-you can f-figure the rest out for yourself."

Understanding that Yang's speech would be from personal experience somehow managed to drain every drop of fun from within her. Blake couldn't understand why it was that she suddenly didn't want to know. "…You've had a boyfriend in the past, Yang?" she still found herself asking. It felt like something akin to morbid curiosity and she couldn't understand why.

"Three," she corrected.

"Three?" Weiss repeated in surprise. "You managed three at Signal? Before coming here?"

"Didn't last long," Yang waved her hand dismissively.

"No one's good enough for Yang to keep around," Ruby laughed.

Electing not to grace this with an answer, Yang downed her drink at once and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. "Let's get down to b-b-… business," she abruptly said. "Number one! Y-you need to _talk_ ," she declared. "N, n I mean _a lot_." With this, she shot up, apparently deciding that giving an educational lesson required for her to be standing. "First. C…c-consent!" She slammed one hand on the table and leaned to peer over her sister in a somewhat intimidating fashion. "You know how they say… 'o-one thing led t-to another'…? At some p-point, it's… it's g-goes… it… t-things just. Th-they just start happening," she blubbered. Ruby made herself smaller in her chair in embarrassment, and Yang only leaned closer. "S-so if you're not happy, you… you _have_ to speak up, 'kay?"

"Yeah, okay," the younger sibling instantly acquiesced. "Promise."

Blake had the vague impression Ruby's hurried answer was so prompt because she wanted her sister to get out of her face, but it did nothing to help her case.

Yang grabbed her shoulder now, still as close. "…It d-doesn't matter if y—you… you d-d… you don't know why you want to stop. If y-you want t-...to stop, you... _stop_ ," she continued. "And if he d-d-...doesn't want to stop...you kick his ass. And dump him. And then _I'm_ gonna k-...kick his ass too." With this, she abruptly straightened up and pointed an unsteady finger towards her other two teammates. "A-and th-that goes f-for you two a-also. A-anyone an asshole to you, I'm—Imma… Imma _kick their ass_."

"Thank you for the sentiment," Weiss acknowledged.

"P-protect our own…!" Yang called, plopping down in her seat again. With this, she refilled everyone's drink and both she and Weiss proceeded to down theirs again.

Blake really thought someone ought to slow her down, but the lethargy overtaking her as the alcohol spread through her system was starting to get the better of her. She surely wasn't about to get in the brawler's way.

There was a short silence in which violet eyes stared dazedly at the table. "Wh-….what was I s-saying…"

"Don't force yourself, consent can be withdrawn," The faunus summed up grabbing her own newly refilled drink again. She wasn't quite sure why she was helping her friend at all, she really did _not_ want to fan the flames of this conversation.

"Oh! U-uh, yeah!" she snapped back "You also need to talk a-about wh- -about what f-feels good and w-wh…what _doesn't_ " she hiccupped. "I know it's… i-it c-...can...it can be embarrassing. B-but you have to. I-I mean, if y-you… i-if you m-make sounds, it can help but. B-but everyone needs s-some guidance" The alcohol she was ingesting was making both her speech and coordination progressively worse, and Blake could only stare. She _really_ wished Weiss would do something about it, but her usually so dignified teammate had taken an unanticipated interest in the topic at hand, and Yang's already thin filter was evidently punctured and giving way to everything and anything that went through her mind. "I-I-I d-didn't say i-it hurt a-and my hair s-started glowing… freaked him out," she related.

The image of Yang in pain under a faceless man came to her, and Blake abruptly felt sick. She put her glass down. Why did Yang have to say this? And _why_ could she not shake the appalling feeling that had run her over with this so unwanted visualization?

"Wait, what? That happened?" Ruby exclaimed in surprise. "You never—"

"I-I never told you about _any_ of—of… of… …B-but you're old enough n-now…! So…!"

"When you say it hurt," Weiss piped up in an almost comically studious air, "did you mean… the actual act?"

"I meant—y-yeah, when h-he… when he put it in," Yang bluntly answered. "It'll—i-i-it'll likely hurt at f-first. A-and also the first f-few times. 'Cause th-there's… the….the… the…" She snapped her fingers repeatedly, searching for the word.

"Hymen?" she flatly completed for her floundering partner.

"Yeah! Yeah!" she applauded enthusiastically. "P-partner, reads mind…!"

Blake did not share her enthusiasm; she merely picked up her glass again in an attempt to distract herself. _Why_ was she so irritated with all this? She tried to remind herself that this sort of talk was bound to happen, that it was even surprising it hadn't happened yet.

"Did you bleed?" Weiss inquired. She was paying an inordinate amount of attention to the conversation at hand that she was more or less keeping the blonde on track.

"Y-yeah but… only noticed a-after. You're in the moment, y-you know," she said as matter-of-factly as her present state allowed. "Pain, though—p-pain… it's not just the f-f-first – the first time. It… it c-can also hurt i-if you're tense 'cause you're tighter… n' less wet." She paused to hiccup and maybe regroup her thoughts. "F-f-first times, th-there's less… less…. Less _patience_ , too… y-you need to p-properly be wet okay? Just—that's… y-you need _foreplay_."

Blake's gaze flowed to the rest of the audience. In spite of the topic at hand, the discourse had taken such a casual tone that Ruby had lost a good portion of her discomfiture and started to listen seriously, as Weiss did. The dark haired woman finished her drink. It felt like a stereotype to be drinking as an escape mechanism, but she absolutely needed something to help numb her incomprehensibly foul mood.

"D-d-do know-"

"We know w—…what foreplay is," Weiss cut in, her liquor finally catching up to her. She was most definitely still more articulate and regrouped than the blonde was, but given that she had at least as much to drink as the blonde, it was inevitable she'd reach a point her speech got impaired.

"G-Good," Yang nodded in approval. "It's important. Take a lot of time w-with that," she stressed, pointing at Weiss then at Ruby, who gulped and nodded, then to Blake herself. Blake stubbornly held her stare. She would not grace her with an answer. "A _lot_ of time," Yang repeated. "S-s-so you need t-to make sure you _do_ ….. y-you _do_ have a lot of time. Don't start stuff when… …you won't…. or… …." She trailed off, and something came to her. "Don't have sex when Dad—wh-wh—when… _a-anyone_ 's home."

She hadn't caught herself in time and they all stared at her in silence until Weiss decided to break it. "Sounds like a story that… n-... needs to be told."

"Maybe another time," Blake instantly interjected. She could not for the life of her comprehend why she was getting upset, but she knew she did _not_ need to hear any details.

Yang's eyebrows shot up in surprise. In spite of her level of inebriation, she appeared to notice her temper going downhill and opted to move on. "Oh. A-another mistake, I… I…d-didn't know… didn't know…" She glanced between Blake and Weiss again. "Anyone has a condom?"

If either of them had been drinking anything, they would've spat it for sure.

"What for?!" the white-haired lady balked.

Yang seemed to recoil physically from her retort. "Wh-what do you mean _what for_ ," she gasped. "Y-y...y-you don't know what they're for?!"

She turned so red, she was almost glowing. "That's not what I meant! I kn—know _that_!" Weiss indignantly argued.

"Why do you think they'd have any?" Ruby quizzically shot, her face almost the same color as her cape.

The blonde stared, a little dumbfounded. "We… we're all away from home an….a-a-and at th-that…. _h-h-hormonal_ phase a-aren't we?"

The argument was too solid and too real; Blake and Weiss could only glance at each other awkwardly. Ruby now had both hands pressed to her face.

"S-so d-do you have one o—…or not?"

"No!" the heiress flatly retorted a little indignantly. "What di—… What di—…" she paused for a solid five seconds. " _What did you intend to do with it?!_ "

"Sh-show… h-how…" the brawler trailed off, her eyes sliding across the room. It was obvious she was looking for an object she would have used for her demonstration, and Blake prayed to all high heavens for her partner not to set her mind on any of their weapons. The last thing they needed was that safety hazard on top of it all.

Fortunately, Yang's buzz clearly made her completely unimaginative, and she returned her unfocused gazed to Weiss. "Hmm. …W- _well_ , maybe b-blow it into a b-balloon? …sss my birthday after all."

Ruby exploded in laughter, and Blake couldn't help but snort amusedly as Yang shrugged in a completely non-committal fashion, laughing along with her sister. The corner of Weiss's lips stretched up slightly, breaking through the aggravated front she appeared determined to maintain.

Once they all settled down again, Yang looked to have forgotten where she was at; Blake _prayed_ that they could just move on to something. Without being able to pinpoint why, by now it was very clear to her that she didn't want to hear anything about her best friend's tales of trial and error. She knew it was somewhat unacceptable that she was so rebuffed, after all, friends should be able to talk about everything and anything, but she decided she'd analyse all that when she was sober.

However to her disarray, Weiss piped up to plunge them right back into the heart of the topic.

"So you've… told all about blunders and—" She put her hand on her mouth, pausing to stifle either a hiccup or a burp. "And gave w-warnings and all…But what about the... …the _good_ parts?"

Yang instantly whirled around to their shorter friend. "The _good_ p-parts, Princess, is e-ev _-...everything else,_ " she shot, wiggling her eyebrows. "S-sex feels _gooood_. S-someone else touching you is _w-way_ b-better than d-... Doing it yourself."

She crossed her arms, unimpressed. "That is not helpful information."

"W-what do you want from me," she bemoaned dramatically.

"I don't know, tips?!"

The blonde scoffed. "I d-did that."

Weiss shook her head. "You did di—disaster prevention," she retorted. "N-nothing about what is _actually_ good."

Blake could only gape at her. She could never have predicted that the proper lady of the group would be the one demanding sex tips. Meanwhile, Ruby was watching interestedly the back and forth between her sister and her partner; it didn't look like she was about to shut this down.

"Good..? W-what, l-like what…? Positions…?" Yang tried, gaining the sort of motion that read as an obvious 'go ahead' from Weiss. She leaned forward on the table, almost knocking over her mostly empty glass. "C- _cowgirl_ , highly recommend," she shot. "Easy, c… comfortable, you got t—tons of control…"

"…Yang, I don't think any of us know position _names_ ," Weiss indicated.

"What?! But—" She looked at Blake who gave her a shrug. She knew, but she didn't want to participate. The sooner this conversation died, the better. Yang blinked in confusion and straightened up in her chair. "O-okay… you… just g-get on to uh…. he lies back," she motioned unsteadily through the air, "a-and you can just…sit," she unhelpfully offered. Both Ruby and Weiss frowned. Yang did another sort of attempt at a gesture through the air, apparently struggling immensely even though she had said it was simple. She stood up, almost losing her footing as the liquor kicked in with a revenge. "L-lemme s-show you," she declared, her unfocused eyes scanning the three of them.

" _Show_?!" Weiss exclaimed, hurriedly backing away from the table, almost in perfect sync with Ruby.

For Blake, her body wouldn't respond nearly as fast as it usually did. The alcohol in her blood had slowed down her brain processing power as well as her reflexes. Though even if she had processed the information in time, she may have not wanted to escape this fate enough to put any actual effort towards avoiding it, and consequently, she was _literally_ seized by her impressively powerful partner. Yang swooped her up with no effort, not unlike one would a child, earning herself a surprised and embarrassingly girlish yelp from the faunus.

Her outcry brusquely stopped the blonde. "Oh," she hiccupped, directing her unfocused gaze back her sister's way. "C-consent," she pointed out and looked again at the dark haired woman she cradled in her arms. "I-It's fine?"

"What are you even doing?" was all Blake could manage as a whispered response. She didn't understand what her partner wanted from her but being swept off her feet this way was far from unpleasant.

"Sho- _showing them_ , Blake," she repeated as if it'd been completely obvious before strutting haphazardly towards the bunk beds. "Y-you're the g-guy, okay?" she instructed, dumping her on Weiss's bed. "Ruby, l-look. This is good…" she called before climbing in too.

"I'm watching," Ruby indicated with a mix of amusement and dread.

"Why _my_ bed?" Weiss protested.

Yang, firmly holding Blake down on her back, threw a disoriented look in Weiss's general direction; it was unclear if she even registered the objection, but she ultimately proceeded anyways. Without any ceremony, she swung her leg over Blake and plopped down on her hips, effectively sitting up on her pelvis. The faunus stared up at her in petrified shock while the blonde unceremoniously grabbed her hands and stuck them to her own hips.

Her mind was reeling, completely blank. She was passively allowing herself be manipulated, and it was most exceedingly unnerving that she could _not_ will herself to protest her partner's bizarre endeavour. All this should at the very least have had her mildly annoyed; it should in truth have sent her bullshit-meter through the roof! _Why_ was she not fighting back? Why was she not bothered with being at her partner's mercy…? _Especially_ when she had her in such an embarrassingly awkward position.

" _This_ ," Yang slurred, looking over at the two spectators. "This i-is a… sure bet. G-good for everyone."

Ruby crossed her arms. "…How's he supposed to move if you're sitting on him?"

The blonde scoffed. " _You_ do m-most of t-the work," she shot. At this, she rolled her hips to demonstrate, completely heedless of the way Blake's hands on her were compelled to follow the thrusting motion or of the way she pushed her pelvis against Blake's body.

The powerful wave of heat that overtook her was dizzying and Blake, flustered, _mortified_ , obstinately stared up at the wooden boards of the bed above them. How could Yang have so little awareness of what she was doing? It boggled her mind that all of her teammates were unruffled by the situation. The faunus nevertheless didn't remove her hands from her friend's hips.

Ruby was still not convinced and she exchanged a glance with her equally sceptical white haired partner. "…So, what….? He just… lies there and stares? Isn't it… embarrassing?"

Yang seemed offended. " _First of all_ , l-looking-…. looking is _fun_ , you know, he'll w-want to look," she said as she gestured up and down her body, successfully drawing Blake's gaze to follow the path of her hand. It was very much in spite of herself that she visualised what her partner's naked body might look like. The blood rushed to her head as she kept staring up at the woman sitting on her. "Second, it's not like he c-c-can't touch either," Yang continued, abruptly turning to her. "B-Blake, you c-… can, you can reach, right?"

Try as she might, she couldn't chase the image from her mind, and it entirely obliterated any other thought process she could've had. "Reach what?" her voice vacillated, and she _prayed_ no one paid heed.

"You're the guy," she reminded her, "th-that means….p-probably the boobs."

It was exactly what she dreaded she'd hear. "…I… I probably could." Her hands remained rigidly embedded on her hips; she could not even think of _actually_ trying to reach.

Yang threw their two standing teammates a triumphant look. "See, it's fine!"

"Okay," Weiss gave. She glanced towards Ruby's way who gave a simple uncommitted shrug. "I still don't think I'd _personally_ like that. Being on top sounds nice…b-... ...but this doesn't feel very intimate," she argued.

At this point, the blonde clearly was a little exasperated that they weren't on board with what she recommended. She blinked drowsily and turned to again stare down at her. "Blake," she blurted, grabbing a firm hold of both her arms to tug at her. "…S-sit up…"

Shaken and more than a little distraught, she mechanically obeyed. As soon as she was within reach, Yang gathered her into her arms to bring their bodies together. Her ample chest pooled onto her, and Blake felt herself blush from head to toe.

It was _impossible_ not to notice the size of her bust when one looked at her, but Blake was discovering it was an entirely different kettle of fish to have it squished to her own body this way. Yes, Yang had hugged her before, but never so tight, so _engulfing_. Her breasts were moulding to her, and Blake's entire focus was on the fact that just tilting her head down could have her snuggle up to them.

She at once mentally kicked herself. These thoughts were _not_ okay.

It had to be the alcohol making her so very aware of all these details about her partner's body, she decided. It _had_ to be the alcohol triggering so many sensations within herself.

And yet Yang's body truly was _so_ incredibly welcoming, warm and _soft_ ; Blake could not stop herself from noticing. It felt like every fibre of her being was heightened, her skin was ridiculously sensitive, her heart accelerated with the rush. The other woman undeniably sparked something visceral within her, something practically impossible to control; her arms evidently had a mind of their own as they snaked around her waist to pull her partner's body impossibly closer. Yang astride from her as they hugged felt criminally good, and she found herself wishing this was happening with the two of them alone.

She kicked herself again. This was _not_ okay.

Oblivious to her friend's internal struggle and having seemingly forgotten about her venture, Yang rubbed her cheek on the dark hair between cat ears. "Oh my god, Blake, you're s-so huggable…" She burbled in drunken awe, grasping at her back, at her shoulders, at the back of her head.

"You hug her all the time," Ruby pointed out, puzzled.

Weiss's focus had not been detracted from the original motivation for having Blake sit up. "This is more like it," she thought out loud. "I could do that."

"Yes!" The blonde bellowed, jolting a little more upright yet still enfolding her partner's head in her arms. Doing this, she effectively pulled the faunus's face in her cleavage and Blake stifled a sound she would not be caught dead making. "I—I t-told you! Good for _both_ …!"

She had been doing her _very best_ to ignore what she could distinctly feel happening within herself, but this brought her to new heights. This whole farce should have been exasperating her, or at the very least it should be leaving her indifferent, but not _this_!

She could feel her face redden all the way up to her cat ears. She wouldn't even be surprised if she'd been red completely top to bottom, her body was _burning_ , and somehow, she was shaking.

Ruby leaned forward, calling out to her. "Are you okay, Blake? Do you need saving?"

Blake simply held her breath, not trusting herself to answer. She wouldn't even trust herself to gaze back at Ruby in fear that even she, in spite of her notorious innocence, may realize what sort of thoughts were going through her. She sat in silence with her head in a chokehold between her friend's breasts and her heart racing a million miles an hour.

"Sis, I think you may be hurting her."

Yang gasped quite dramatically, releasing her embrace in favor of taking her head in her hands to fussily caress her hair and cheeks. "I'm sorry, Blake! Y-you should've s-said something, y-you—you…" she trailed off, coming to a complete stop. Her hands on her cheeks immobilized her, and she got into her face so close that Blake could smell the alcohol on her breath.

Blake gaped back at her. "…Yang?"

"Blake…Y-you're… you're _gorgeous_ …" she spluttered.

Was that why she'd so abruptly paused? Blake stayed completely still, staring back into her partner's eyes, not even two inches from her face. _If I just leaned in, our lips woul—oh no…. no, no, no_. The thought had sprang before she could fully grasp its nature, but Blake could _not_ go there! "Yang, you're… _really_ close," she made herself whisper.

"I know. It's to s-see better."

Silenced reigned for an extended moment, no one moved.

"This is getting a little weird, Yang," Weiss pointed out. "Are you done?"

Yang forced Blake's head to turn towards her interlocutor. "WEISS, LOOK HOW PRETTY SHE IS."

"Did you _not_ notice before?!" She exclaimed, appalled.

"Of… O-Of course I had!" She exclaimed, so unbelievably stoked. "But n-not… not th-this close…! U-up close, she's even _more_ amazing!" With this, she beamed down at her, wonder and admiration sparkling in her eyes.

Petrified with what had gone down and what she was discovering about herself, Blake couldn't force herself to smile back.

"Oh my god." The dread in Weiss's voice was palpable. "Yang, is this… becoming…" She hesitated for an extended moment. "…something else…?"

Violet eyes confusedly stared back. "Wha…?" Her grasp on her friend's head stayed quite firm.

"I mean, you've been awfully hung up on Blake this evening." Her gaze flickered unsurely towards Blake for no more than a second. "This," she designated, gesturing awkwardly at the two of them "is still platonic, right?"

This had a mortified shock pulsate through her body at once. Blake felt like those words stripped her naked.

Yang laughed heartily. "Oh, what, I c- -can't… s-say nice things…? To my best friend…?"

"Complimenting is one thing…." the heiress looked unimpressed. "Then there's…next level."

"What do you mean?" Ruby chirped, not catching on.

"Nothing, Ruby," Weiss sighed. "Your sister is simply being _extra_ , as usual."

The brawler finally released her grip, but her arms moved around Blake's shoulders instead. The faunus didn't dare move. Or speak. Her partner straddling her and the casual accusation thrown their way was too much for her to process. "Someone's ge-getting grumpy," Yang teased, sticking her tongue in a way too adorable grimace.

The joke was completely lost on Weiss, and she crossed her arms. "On a normal day, I'd have been asleep _four hours_ ago," she pointed out.

"N-no one's keeping you," the birthday girl shot back a little annoyedly.

"You're _in my bed._ "

Yang stared blankly for a second. "...So we are," she acknowledged as she suddenly seem to remember.

With this, she finally got off Blake and stumbled out of bed. She trotted to her until then forgotten bottle and shook it in a light, horizontal movement to get a feel of how much was left. She evidently elected to finish whatever was left as she brought the neck to her mouth and downed the rest. Blake was so shaken by the last moments, she had to be ousted out of her bunk by Weiss as she got to bed shortly after. Lights were off except one desk lamp around which the three of them gathered.

The next half hour, Blake spent mostly listening to idle chatting between the two siblings. She couldn't get herself to bed, not with her brain going a million miles an hour and her body in the disturbing state it was. Listening and mildly participating in that chit-chat was a welcomed breather after what Yang had put her through.

Nevertheless… the respite of this downtime hadn't brought her peace of mind, far from it. No, because now… _now_ that those distressing and so intrusive feelings she'd desperately tried to ignore at the beginning of the evening had graduated from their nebulous shape and taken a much too identifiable form, they had become impossible to dismiss. Worse, they seemed to be amplifying every second.

She'd keep glancing at her blonde partner and find herself staring at her lips, at her chest, and her mind would wander again to how it felt to have her on top of her or in her arms. Shame would then violently slam into her, and she'd will the images filling her head to smoke again and again and again. Until she'd look at Yang again and the visions were back full force, haunting her.

What brought her out of it was the blonde sluggishly grasping the sleeve of her indoors kimono.

"I…don't feel so good," she glumly whined.

"Just not so good, or _…_?"

"…Ugh," she painfully moaned.

The faunus's eyes drifted to their team leader. Was this an instance where siblings took care of each other?

Ruby had paled several shades of white into an almost greenish color. Her stare unmistakably implored Blake to step up.

Having read the silent exchange, Yang presented the reason she had chosen to address Blake in the first place. "She also gets sick if someone's sick," she explained, motioning towards Ruby in a faint hand gesture.

Blake sighed. Scolding her about overdoing it with such a sweet and strong liquor came to her mind but she bit her tongue in favor of being helpful. "Do you need help to walk to the bathroom?"

The blonde pitifully nodded, her eyes stuck to her.

With an understanding nod, Blake made her way to her partner, bending slightly to let her move her arm around her shoulders before she slid one of hers around the other woman's waist. Yang leaned heavily on her as she wobbled towards the bathroom and Blake gently let her down to sit next to the toilet. Sitting up leaning against the bathtub, Yang rested her head back and closed her eyes.

Blake went back to their room to grab one of their glasses and to the bathroom again to rinse it and fill it with water from the sink. She took a couple of sips, gazing back at her messy reflection in the mirror. She then filled up the cup again and went to crouch next to her friend.

Yang cracked her eyes open and sluggishly took the offered drink. She gulped down half of it before resting her head back again against the bathtub, letting out a heavy exhalation that sounded a little like a groan. "Sorry I drank too much," she offered. "Y-you don't have to stay with me."

Blake shook her head faintly. "I'd rather make sure you're okay," she insisted. Her friend did _not_ look well, and were she to get herself to bed, she'd only be worrying about Yang anyways. "Should I tie your hair into a ponytail?"

After a short pause, Yang nodded once. "…Yeah," she croaked. "…Please."

Moving from her crouching position to instead sit on the bathtub ledge, Blake gently started combing the copious amount of golden curls with her fingers. She took her time to cautiously untangle the mess as she gathered the locks into one hand. It wasn't long before her friend started to heavily lean her head into her touch; it became apparent that the ministrations were soothing her into nodding off, and Blake decided to let her be. She still somehow managed to tie her hair up, granted not as neatly as she would've wished, but still securely enough given how unhelpful her drunk partner was. With Yang's head comfortably nested in her lap, Blake opted in favour of letting her snooze a bit, content to have the opportunity to be able to openly observe her.

This evening had been a ride, and she had _not_ been ready for what it had brought out of her.

Very carefully, she combed blonde bangs away from her partner's face with her fingers. Her wavy hair was so light and soft, it was downright addictive, and Blake found herself interminably caressing her golden hair. The tip of her fingers eventually brushed her cheek, and Blake paused. Very slowly, she contoured her face in a featherlike caress, admiring her features. She was lost in the moment until another one of those intrusive thoughts jolted her enough she almost stopped breathing. She may never have another opportunity like this one if she ever wanted to know what Yang's lips felt like.

And though Blake forbade herself the very idea of leaning down, she still could not prevent her quivering fingers from inching towards her mouth. It was probably the alcohol that let her dare, because otherwise she would never have risked letting her index trace over her lips.

 _God_ , what was she even doing?

She shakily took her hand back, so unbelievingly ashamed. Her eyes nevertheless were glued to her friend's features and the urge to touch her again was stronger than her will. Very tentatively, she reached for her once more, this time cupping her cheek in her palm. She traced her lips with her thumb, marvelling at how soft they were and oh, just pouty enough to be delightfully supple. Blake noticed her partner's faint breathing warming her hand, and… … Her heart jumped in her throat. Had Yang just kissed her thumb?

She didn't dare move. She did _not_ want her friend to catch her red-handed, and she surely didn't want to have to explain what she had been doing because _what was she even doing!?_ Blake could only anxiously stare down at the completely inert blonde, waiting to see if she'd give any sign that she'd been awake.

"…Yang…?" She eventually called almost inaudibly.

There was no response from the blonde.

Only after an extended stillness and silence did Blake start to relax. Feeling her lips press back against her finger _had_ to have been her imagination. She silently exhaled the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. Of course Yang couldn't have done that, she _wouldn't_. She had just been ranting on about her ex-boyfriends, about sex with _men_. The very idea of her kissing Blake's hand was laughable, she told herself.

Having properly put herself in her place, she managed to regain some composure. She shouldn't have let her thoughts wander anyhow, she reminded herself. It would serve nothing but precipitate her down a path she could not afford to find herself walking.

Weak groaning brought her attention back to her friend's head still in her lap, and Blake spontaneously resumed combing her bangs with her fingers, successfully soothing her.

She didn't know how long she let her sleep this way, but ultimately, the blonde started regaining consciousness. Although she didn't move her head from Blake's lap, she gave out a faint grunt to signal she was awake. It took another minute or two for her to be alert enough to speak.

"You know," Yang started, her voice raspy and eyes still closed, "I don't let people touch my hair."

Her words sent a cold jolt through her and, more than a little discomfited, Blake awkwardly took back her hand. "Sorry," she offered. "I was aware you were excessively fussy about your hair, but I never realized…"

The blonde hummed in dissatisfaction. "I didn't ask you to stop," she pointed out.

It took her a second to register what her friend was saying; it was astonishing how from one sentence to the other Yang had been able to hurl her down a sickening spiral and up high again to the impression of floating on a cloud. She once more rested her hand on her friend's head and resumed tenderly going through her bangs. "…I'm honored."

Yang exhaled a pleased sigh. "I didn't… say that to make a big deal out of it. I just…I feel so at ease with you," she murmured, pushing her cheek against her thigh not unlike a pet would. "That's what I'm trying to say."

It wasn't something Blake had expected to hear, not even from her, and she unwittingly came to a halt. Yes, she'd indeed noticed her partner had evidently been quite comfortable idly lounging in her company and even getting up in her bubble the way very few people had before, but…

The drawn-out pause finally had Yang look up at her. "You're surprised?"

"…Most people don't tend to feel at ease around me," Blake awkwardly explained.

"I'm not most people," Yang smugly shot back.

It made her smile. "You're not indeed."

"That's why you chose me?"

The question blindsided her, and a sudden silence ensued. The nonchalant attitude Yang had until then had given way to something more invested, more earnest as she almost imperceptibly tilted her whole body towards her. Blake wasn't quite sure what she meant to ask her. Was it maybe about the bizarre way she'd been feeling about Yang this evening? Somehow her heart was in her throat, and Blake could barely articulate her question. "…What do you mean?"

"You chose me, Blake," she repeated, unwaveringly staring up at her. "In that forest."

The vivid memory of the day they became partners flashed through her mind. Blake had chased her through the forest for the better part of an hour before she'd revealed herself. She'd always believed she'd gotten away with it, that Yang had never suspected theirs had not been a chance encounter. Her blood seemed to freeze in her veins as she understood she was just being informed otherwise.

The blonde's gaze was locked onto hers with genuine curiosity. "…Even if you _hadn't_ followed me…" she started again, confirming to Blake she knew about that too, "I was calling for Ruby non-stop and then fought the Ursa without being stingy on the fire dust rounds…I was _so_ loud. You could've turned around and headed the other way about a million times. But you didn't. You stepped out to kill that last Ursa; you made sure I saw you too," she matter-of-factly explained. The gentleness in the amethyst gems unwaveringly riveted to her own gaze didn't take away from how assured Yang looked as she spoke again. "We're partners because _you_ chose it so," she affirmed. "You chose me."

Blake couldn't find an answer. Hearing the course of events laid out this way, it was indeed obvious that it'd been done on purpose. It nevertheless had never crossed her mind Yang could've realized all this.

"…I never understood why you picked me. But I'm very glad you did," Yang commented with a content smile. She leaned her head back on top of the bathtub ledge, and Blake's eyes were glued to her. In spite of the circumstances, the brawler remained unreasonably attractive. How her sickly complexion and those dark circles around her bloodshot eyes did nothing to tarnish her charm was mystifying.

The dark haired faunus exhaled silently, unable to tear her gaze from her. "You know why I did, you just said so yourself," she offered. "You're not like most people."

Yang puffed out some sort of disbelieving half-chuckle at having her words thrown back at her. "Oh yeah, and you knew that back then? How?" She amusedly asked, humoring her.

Although her previous answer had indeed been a direct spin of her partner's pompous declaration, Blake had also been as serious as could be. "I just knew," she simply affirmed.

The tone of her voice seemed to have the blonde understand she had indeed been serious and, with her head still leaned back onto the bathtub ledge, Yang stared up at her questioningly.

Blake laced her fingers together in her lap, thoughtful. This wasn't something she ever thought she'd have to put in words, and as she took a second to find them, her gaze drifted through the bathroom, mostly to their mismatched belongings scattered on the bathroom counter. "I think... from the way you look at people," she offered as a start, still trying to regroup her thoughts. "Frankly and without judgement. With a so very rare willingness to be open and welcoming towards _anyone_ ," she described, turning to her once more. "Trust me, being a faunus, I've seen the very opposite of all that too often. In too many people."

Having stopped presenting her faunus attributes out in public had been all the more reason to pay further attention to how the people she surrounded herself with treated her peers, be it direct interactions or body language. "You stood out at first because I trusted right off the bat I would be safe with you," Blake ended up disclosing. "Both you and Ruby, actually."

Yang looked unquestionably proud, as she inevitably would when anyone had anything positive to say about her sister. "So you went after the first one of us you could find?"

For a second, she toyed with the idea of nodding and closing the case, but having already disclosed this much, it felt senseless to conceal any part of the truth. "No. I was looking for you," she admitted. "I wouldn't have minded being with Ruby, but it truly was you I was after."

They stared at each other for an extended moment. It was a rare sight to behold: Yang so thrown off, she was at loss for words.

Before she had the chance to recover and inquire, Blake decided to volunteer the explanations. This was the 'why' Yang had been curious about for months after all. She was probably in the right to know. "Ruby's innocence is where her openness stems from. She's… naïve, starry-eyed," Blake stated, earning a slow nod from the blonde. "It's wonderful that she can maintain this in spite of training to be a huntress but…. you… you know by now. I have baggage, a lot of it…Ruby isn't…" she sighed, opting not to finish her sentence. Ruby wasn't equipped to deal with this baggage, to deal with that darkness, to deal with _Blake herself_ if it came down to it. But Blake didn't want to voice that out loud.

Her golden orbs darted to her partner again. "While _you_ ," she breathed, her eyes searching into that endless violet color, "there's a maturity about you… the kind that only comes by having been hurt, by having been wronged. You're wiser than most about the world," she stated so very gently. Something changed in Yang's gaze, and Blake could tell she'd struck a chord. "And yet… yet you _somehow_ still look at this so very flawed world the way you do… with this openness and _goodness_ ," she explained, unable to completely veil her semi-incredulous amazement. "It takes someone incredibly strong to see, _truly_ see the world for what it is and _still_ look at people with the warmth you do."

Watching the brawler as she crushed the Ursa then, seeing how much of a capable fighter she was had only cemented a decision Blake had already taken deep down. "You're _strong_ , Yang. Inside _and_ out. And… although there was no way for me to see it then as clearly as I do now, I could still see it," she quietly finished. "So…that's why. All that…. _that's_ why I chose you."

Yang remained unmoving, sitting on the floor and looking up at her, her expression somewhere between overwhelmed and dumbfounded. Once she'd seemed to have assimilated what had been said, she blinked several times, letting her gaze drift down. "I… I never thought I'd _ever_ get to know," she admitted. "…And I… surely didn't expect an answer that was _so_ … …" She exhaled a little unsteadily, maybe a little in disbelief, maybe trying to gather herself. "I never knew you saw so much worth in me."

"Yang," she called, drawing her gaze again. The next words escaped her of their own will. "You're likely the best decision I've made in my life."

The very last thing she could've expected was what unfolded then; Yang's wide violet eyes still fixed on hers rapidly filled to the brim with tears which in turn liberally flowed down her cheeks. Blake didn't know if it was the alcohol or if it was because of how fast it had happened, but it took a second for Yang to realize she was crying. "Oh," she breathed, breaking eye contact. "S—sorry, Blake, I-" her breath caught in her throat as she awkwardly trying to wipe her face with her hands. "I don't know, I…" she embarrassedly mumbled, hiding her face in both hands. "Oh my god…"

Alarmed, Blake moved from her spot on the ledge of the bathtub to sit on the cold tile with her friend in an attempt to be more present for her… though she had no idea what to say. Given what had prompted the waterworks, Blake had to guess these were happy tears? She was touched? But…Yang wasn't smiling at all. Was it that being still somewhat intoxicated made her more emotional? The faunus was impossibly at a loss; not only was it the first time she saw her friend cry, she also could not figure out for the life of her why she was even crying.

She questioningly leaned her head, trying to meet her gaze again.

Yang embarrassedly glanced her way for a heartbeat, and then once more. "I've just… I've…" she attempted, before she shook her head. "Sorry, that was weird," she shot, sniffing again manifestly trying to gather her herself enough to offer some sort of explanation. "It's just that—you know I told you… …" she trailed off, giving up on her sentence once more. Blake couldn't tell if it was the alcohol that made it so difficult for her to order her thoughts, if she even knew why there had been tears at all that, or if there was another reason Yang was struggling so much. Ultimately, the blonde puffed out a sour, unamused sort of resigned half-laugh. "Forget it. It's stupid. Thank you for saying that."

It was now clear that Yang was not confused as to what had just occurred and had decided to opt out of explaining. It felt as if she was shutting down. Blake couldn't shake the notion that she was doing so in an attempt to bury something very significant to her and it was almost in spite of herself that she seized the moment before it was gone. "Tell me, Yang."

The blonde shook her head again, evidently very self-conscious. "It doesn't matter. It's stupid."

There was no leaving it alone. "Whatever it is, it matters enough that it made you cry, so it's _not_ stupid," she asserted. "It obviously needs out, so _please_. You know I won't judge you."

Yang sniffed loudly, grabbing some toilet paper to blow her nose before she pitifully glanced her way again. There was a long silence in which they stared at each other, and Blake very firmly held her gaze. She wanted her partner to know she could tell her anything and she wanted her to feel heard, she told herself. Meanwhile, the fact that she cared more than she could even put into words was something she did her best to relegate to the back of her mind.

Eventually, the blonde gave a small sigh and dropped her gaze to stare at her hands in her lap. "…I…told you already about my mother leaving," she unenthusiastically started, "and how my father completely shut down when our mom—when Summer died."

"You did," Blake acknowledged. "Of course I remember."

Yang gave a half-hearted nod. "…It felt like Ruby and I didn't matter enough for Dad to keep going," she quietly admitted. "…Meanwhile, Uncle Qrow would always be gone… and… Well, I get it. He goes out there to save the world," she explained before taking a long pause. It looked to Blake like whatever needed to be said next, she hesitated to confess. When she ultimately spoke again, it looked physically painful for her to get the words out. "It doesn't change the fact that I…I felt…expendable, and that I always felt that… eventually, when she'd be old enough to stop depending on me, Ruby would leave too. Because everyone does. Because I… don't really matter."

It was just about inconceivable to Blake that someone as exceptional, as _radiant_ as her fiery partner would ever feel this way. Of course, with what was being related, it certainly made quite a lot of sense that she would. Blake simply couldn't wrap her head around the idea, she was so completely at a loss, it almost caught her by surprise that Yang continued.

" _Then_ I started growing, and I got _a lot_ of attention from guys. It felt like… they all suddenly saw me," she said with an uncommitted shrug before she paused. "I'm not saying that to brag or anything," she added, "It's just…" she gestured towards her chest.

Blake could not for the life of her prevent her gaze from dropping to her partner's massive cleavage. She decided it was Yang's fault for drawing attention down there and she quickly returned her eyes up, refusing to ponder about what her friend may have thought of her blatant stare.

If it'd bothered her, it didn't show. Yang sighed lightly and threw the crumpled toilet paper still in her hand she'd used to blow her nose in the toilet. "Eventually, one of them actually found the guts to ask me out— my first boyfriend. I was _ecstatic_ ," she recounted, taking another small pause. A nostalgic half-smile took over her features. "To be honest, I think the main reason I liked him was because he liked me. But I didn't understand that back then… so it still broke my heart when he dumped me a couple of months later." She lost whatever small amusement had been on her features. Yang sighed deeply, bringing a hand to her temple as if she'd had a budding headache. "And then the second one came by, and the exact same thing happened; I said yes, about three months later he was gone. And then the third one."

She could see where all that was going, but Yang still voiced it plain and clear.

"I didn't break up with any of them, Blake," she said. "They _all_ dumped me."

Blake couldn't seem to process the information; how was this even possible? How could someone be so blind, so utterly _wrong_ that they wouldn't understand how lucky they were to have her? She knew nothing of those guys, but she _knew_ with unwavering certainty that nothing they could ever obtain in their combined lifetimes would be as precious as Yang was and for that, they _had_ to be utter fools. And so she found herself asking: "…Did any of them tell you why?"

Yang turned to dispassionately stare at her for an extended moment before she looked down to the cold tiles of the bathroom floor. She didn't seem too keen on sharing, but in the end she did anyways. "…Basically, I'm... ' _too much'_. Too intense, too tough, too scary. Plus, they all resented that Ruby always came first," she wryly related. "But I just…" she heaved a short, somewhat distressed sigh. "I… I mean." With both hands, she pushed back her blonde hair from her face, letting her fingers flow through her it to the back of her head as she gave a slight shake of it. "Looking back, even though I can't say I truly loved any of them… it… it still really _stings_ ," she admitted. "I… I kept thinking…. _everyone_ leaves. Even the people who'd picked me! So… there had to be a problem with me, right?" She finally turned to Blake again, searching her eyes as if she'd had any answers. Blake wanted to tell her the problem was the whole world— _not_ her, but Yang hadn't actually been expecting any answer from her, and she continued. "…And that maybe if I tried harder, if I was _better_ , I'd eventually be…" she trailed off, pausing. It looked like the word she wanted to say made her uncomfortable, she obstinately stared at the semi-closed bathroom door in front of them. "I thought if I just kept trying harder, I'd eventually be… worthy," she quietly admitted. "Worthy enough that maybe people would actually start _wanting_ me around."

That's when the last piece of the puzzle fell into place, when the last moments started making sense to Blake. Being told she was valued this much when her whole life, she'd felt unwelcomed and unwanted would of course warrant this sort of tearful reaction from a drunken teenage girl. Millions of thoughts surged through her at once, things she _needed_ her friend to know; how she _did_ matter, that she was in fact so important that she was irreplaceable, and that she was worthier than anyone _ever_.

She didn't find the nerve to voice any of it. Instead, her fingers brushed over her friend's callused ones. Yang's eyes wandered to her, and, though she didn't smile, her expression visibly softened. She rotated her hand underneath hers to offer her palm, and Blake delicately rested her own hand in it. Yang's hand was invitingly warm. It sent a jolt of electricity through her, and as their fingers interlocked, her whole being was tingling.

Blake had the certitude her partner knew her enough to recognize what she was trying to tell her by initiating physical intimacy. Yang gave a tender squeeze, and only after a long pause did she break the silence again.

"This whole partner thing… It's supposed to be random dumb luck, and to be completely honest, I kinda dreaded it. I didn't want someone to feel like they were stuck with me. It's why I was looking for Ruby even though I was the one who told her she should go out there and make friends," she absentmindedly recounted, distractedly stroking Blake's hand with her thumb. "I knew someone had followed me," she said, glancing her way again. Yang observed her with a puzzled air of hesitation, almost like she was searching to read her mind. "You know, I was _shocked_ when it was you who stepped out of those bushes. You were probably the last person I expected to see given how you really didn't want to chat with Ruby and I the night before. I couldn't understand. I mean, had you been a dude I'd just have assumed it'd have been for my tits or something like that," she snorted, giving a shrug.

Against her own will, _again_ , Blake looked down to her chest. It was embarrassing how little willpower she had that evening; she didn't quite know if it was due to her newly coming awareness that she was not indifferent to feminine charms or if maybe it was the alcohol still in her system. She prayed to the high heavens it was the latter. Yang fortunately didn't seem to notice her wandering gaze. She leaned her head back against the bathtub again. "I couldn't wrap my head around it, but the fact was… you were there. You'd chosen me," she continued, very softly. "I wasn't just confused… I was really nervous. I was sure you'd end up regretting it." Her head slumped slightly to the side as she tilted it to observe her again. Her eyes were glassy with emotion, but she managed to keep her composure. "…Blake… knowing you _don't_ regret it, knowing that now that you've gotten to know me, you're _glad_ you picked me… it means the world."

Blake stared back at her with the feeling of a knife sharply piercing through her heart, and the answer that bubbled up from deep within her sobered her up at once. _I love you_.

Of course, telling your best friend you love them after they bared their hearts, opened up like this, and showed such vulnerability would only be expected, but in light of what this evening was forcing her to come to terms with... Blake found herself swallowing those words. Dread leadened her entire body and she couldn't tear her gaze from her best friend's features. She knew she did love Yang; she loved her whole team very dearly. But she didn't… _love_ Yang…. did she?

Her silence didn't seem to faze her partner. Yang, in evident need of a hug, took the initiative to shift closer. She turned towards her as she slid down enough to nest her head into the crook of her neck and wrapped her arms around her. She snuggled up to her, and Blake could do nothing but cradle her friend closer. Clearly happy that her affections were reciprocated, Yang pressed her face against her neck to nuzzle her gently, and the sheer pleasure it brought Blake was downright sinful. Never before did she relish being in anyone's arms this way, and it wasn't only for how comfortable and safe she felt with her… Blake loathed to admit it, but it was also due to the tremendously enthralling sensation of her partner's body.

It felt _indescribably_ good, and Blake couldn't help the derailing thoughts and emotions all crashing into one another. She may have refused to think about exactly how much or in what way she did love the woman in her arms, but there was no stifling everything else overtaking her… not with the way her body was so very obviously responding.

Blake felt her heart sink. She didn't want it to be so, but she had run out of places to hide from herself. There was no going around the fact that at the very least… she wanted this closeness with her partner once they'd sobered up too.

And yet it seemed allowing herself to admit this much had her subjugated by the memory of Yang's lips against her thumb, by the present feeling of their bodies pressed together, as if something out there wanted to drive in how much of an understatement plain closeness would be.

In truth... she wanted something she should _not_ have wanted, something that felt downright profane, and yet she wanted it immeasurably so. So alarmingly much, she couldn't fathom how she never came aware of it before this evening. So _horrifyingly_ much, she frightened herself. The blonde's arms around her tightened slightly as she shifted an inch or two to reposition herself. She slid her leg over Blake's thigh to properly interlock their bodies and then sighed contently as she seemed to melt into her. The goose bumps this incited gripped Blake to her core.

Oh yes, there was no mistaking it… she wanted her. Not in some abstract fantasy of soft curves and gentle hands that her novels would romanticize women's sexuality as. No, her desires couldn't be more crudely realistic. She craved the experience of her naked flesh, the heat, the sweat and the tangled hair, the smell of every inch of her body, the taste of her lips, of her skin, even the taste of—… Blake slammed the brakes on her derailing train of thought.

The utter shame she felt over her desires was beyond words. Putting aside their atypical nature, Yang was her _best friend_. The reason she had let her barriers down and shared this warm and peaceful embrace with her was because she was under the impression she was _safe_ with her. Meanwhile, Blake couldn't help defiling her in her mind….! It made her feel deceitful, even worse, like a predator. She should _not_ be having these thoughts about her…!

"Blake," her voice broke her out of her torpor. "I can hear your heart."

Though she knew very well what the blonde meant, the image of it whispering its truth seized her. "Don't listen to what it says," she quietly requested, not thinking twice.

Yang chuckled. "Too late," she alleged. "It betrayed you."

The faunus was silent for a short moment. There was no way Yang was aware of her internal struggle, was there? "…Did it?"

"Yeah…it's beating pretty hard," the blonde observed, successfully petrifying her partner. The tension in her body had to be obvious because, without moving her arms from the way they were around her, Yang lightly massaged whatever part of her back was available. "I know you like your own space, Blake. I don't mean to make you feel uncomfortable. Just a couple of minutes like this would make me happy if you'll let me."

The immense relief she felt over understanding that Yang attributed her fretfulness to a simple personal space issue was indescribable. She gave a quiet sigh of relief, and in an attempt to make her feel more welcomed, her hand found the back of her friend's head to softly scratch her scalp through the messy blonde locks. "Of course," she quietly agreed. "I'm not uncomfortable, Yang." It wasn't quite true, but she above all would loathe cutting this moment short.

Blake's attentions prompted an almost imperceptible but so content moan from her. "Is that so?" she breathed. "Then maybe I'll stay there the whole night, listen to what your heart has to say."

How romantic the proposition sounded wasn't lost on her, and Blake had to try very hard to remind herself that the intent behind Yang's casual teasing was nowhere _near_ romantic. She breathed out a long, silent exhalation before she gave an acknowledging humm. "I can't have that," she quietly argued.

Her answer seemed to prompt a more serious reaction from her; Yang moved away enough so she could look at her face. "Would it be such a bad thing?" she earnestly asked. "For you to open up a bit?"

Golden stared back into beautiful, mesmerizing violet. "…Yeah."

A yearning, concerned ache tainted her gaze and Yang reached to move her fingers through dark locks. Her hand at the back of Blake's head gently incited her to lean her forehead to hers. "Blake. No matter who you were or what you've done, what matters to me is who you are today. And what you've shown me of you, I _adore_ ," she gently said, holding her gaze with a seriousness and conviction that persuaded Blake of her words' unconditional veracity. "So when you're ready, _please_ talk to me," she pleaded with a tenderness in her voice that Blake only remembered hearing in that dusk-lit classroom.

The obsessive idea that she should kiss her reigned over every other thought that could've attempted to take shape. She realized her very breathing quivered. "…When I'm ready," she agreed in a whisper. In time, she may open up about her past… but Yang could _never_ know what sort of desires she evoked in her.

Yang's smile was so genuine and radiant that Blake was convinced she was staring at something holy.

Clearly satisfied, the blonde slid down again a couple of inches and laid her head back where it was, in the crook of her neck as she snuggled back up to her. She held her in a reassuring squeeze for a few seconds before she opened her mouth again. "You're a better friend than I could've ever hoped to find… no dark past or shameful secret of yours would have me let go of you."

 _Maybe not figuratively speaking_ , Blake thought gloomily, _but certainly literally_.

After all, Yang was nested in her arms, halfway on top of her. Would she be fine with doing this had she known that Blake was exceedingly mindful of _everything_ about her body? The weight of it, her breath against her neck, the smell of her hair, and the softness of her skin… Worse –and Blake was guilt-ridden over how much she enjoyed this— but she certainly noticed her breasts pressed to her and moulding to her own body…or the heat from her crotch against Blake's thigh from the way she'd entwined their legs together.

Blake repressed a shudder as the extreme awareness of all this seem to overtake her again, and with this, realizing how actually turned on she was only served to make her feel worse. As much as she enjoyed the closeness and intimacy, she couldn't bear staying with her anymore. "Do you still feel sick?" she asked, eager to do something about the situation.

Yang gave a weird shrug. "No, I don't think so."

"Let's get you to bed."

Getting out of the brawler's grasp was an agonizing mix of relief and misery which served only to mess even more with her sanity. Blake nevertheless managed a somewhat impassive façade as she helped her up and to the room. It was only as she saw their beds that she realized getting her partner to her top bunk would likely be an unnecessary challenge, not to mention a terrible idea if she did end up feeling sick again. She sat her on her own bed and Yang questioningly looked up at her.

"We'll switch for tonight," she clarified.

Yang looked down at herself and the bed covers she was sitting on before looking back up at her. "You want me to sleep in your bed?"

Blake stared back down at her; _how_ was she still so endearing looking so exhausted and ill? "If you were to feel sick again, it's better for everyone if you're on the bottom bunk."

"You don't mind?"

"It's just one night. It's fine," she reassured her again as she helped tuck her in. Blake couldn't help pausing a second to witness her partner getting comfortable in her bed, almost envisioning herself getting in to snuggle up to her.

Yang turned on her side to face her as she huddled into the comforter, her violet eyes gleaming with fondness and gratitude. "Thanks, Blake. For everything," she whispered; the entire portrait sent a jolt through the faunus's body.

Blake's eyes drifted to the ground, she couldn't hold her gaze, not with all the shameful thoughts that had been coursing through her, not with the guilt she felt over the pleasure it'd brought her to take care of her. And surely _not_ with how she'd taken advantage of the situation for her own pleasure, to freely caress her hair, skin, even her lips. "Don't mention it," she uncomfortably dismissed.

"Good night," Yang smiled.

"…Yeah, you too," she mumbled, moving to climb up to her partner's bed.

Though the beds and sheets were all identical and provided by the academy, peeling off the covers to slip into beddings that she knew were not meant to be her own felt akin to slipping into someone else's clothes. It made Blake feel _incredibly_ self-conscious, even more so as she was impossibly aware of how they overwhelmingly smelled like her. She nevertheless made herself comfortable, pulling the covers snugly around herself.

It was inevitable; the shiver coursed through her in turn liberated sudden heat throughout her body. That distinct, unmistakable _burning_. Being so exhausted from the rollercoaster of an evening she'd had, she didn't have it in her anymore to try and lie to herself about what was clearly happening inside of her. She didn't fight herself to acknowledge she was tremendously aroused by being in the other woman's bed. Instinctively, she bunched up the duvet in her arms and between her legs to hug it very tight. With its smell, it vaguely gave the impression that Blake was curled up around her partner. Of course, it was nothing comparable to when Yang had been holding her a few moments ago in the bathroom, but it was something she could never have had she been in her own bed.

In an attempt to regroup herself, she let her mind replay parts of the evening. She had hoped it'd been the alcohol and maybe the added factor of unusual physical of intimacy that had been messing with her perceived desires but… No. After all, it was not _in spite_ of her being a woman that she was attracted to her. Had it been the case, then… trying to push her limits with images she should've found vulgar or repulsive would not have fanned the flames of her growing lust the way it did. Even going as far as picturing herself kneeling in front of Yang was nothing but mouth-watering.

She exhaled softly, pushing her face in her partner's pillow. She had to get a grip. After all, she could not afford to risk this friendship. There was too much at stake, and she would not be stupid enough to let infatuation permeate and destroy what they had.

No, Blake instantly thought, shaking herself. This was _not_ infatuation. This was nothing but crude physical attraction.

Yes, she was undeniably attracted to Yang, but Yang was by all standards drop-dead gorgeous. _Anyone_ with any level of attraction towards women would definitely be attracted to her. It wasn't because it was her. It didn't _have_ to be her.

That's all there was, she told herself.

There was nothing more to read into, she resolved.

It's not like she had any special feelings towards her. Yes, Yang was admittedly terribly charming, awfully kind, and unreasonably good-looking, but Blake didn't love her any differently than she did Ruby or Weiss.

Except for the part where Yang had her soaking her panties.

Blake groaned to herself.

…Okay, so Yang was her type. Big deal. Case closed.

Case closed, she told herself, curling tighter around the beddings she hugged to herself. All this didn't matter. She would get over it soon enough. The amplitude of it all only _appeared_ to be colossal; it was only because all of this was new to her. In a couple of months, she'll look back and be laughing at herself because this situation was ridiculous after all. When she'll have gotten more comfortable with what it was she in fact was attracted to, she'll stop having those bizzare thoughts about her. Things would return to normal.

This is why it was best to bury this. No one could know she ever felt this way, especially not Yang.


	2. Chapter 2

Coming back to Beacon after a weekend away to Patch always felt great, Yang never expected she'd enjoy living with her team this much. In fact, before graduating from Signal to move on to Beacon, she'd been bracing herself for quite a few arguments and tensions with her future teammates; after all, it would've been expected when living with strangers. Yet, aside from the slightly bumpy ride when Weiss had learned Blake was a faunus, everything had gone so much smoother than she had anticipated. Of course, her time at Beacon was far from over and it was entirely possible that more drama would ensue, but she considered herself blessed to have found herself with the team she had. Dorm life was _great_ and even being away for only two days still had her excited to be back.

As she strutted back to what was now a second home, chatting away with her sister and their dog in tail, something from the corner of her eye caught her attention. "Wait," Yang interjected as she abruptly extended her arm to stop their advance; Ruby ran right into it.

"What…?" She wheezed.

The oldest sibling pointed to a greener area of the school grounds, under a tree. "Look, it's Blake."

Ruby's features lit up, the offending collision instantly forgotten. "Oh yeah it's Blake!" She happily exclaimed, starting towards her. The air was knocked out of her again as Yang pulled on her cape to stop her dead in her track. Now somewhat slighted, she gave her sister a miffed look. "…What?"

"She's reading."

"She's _always_ reading."

"But she looks peaceful doesn't she?"

She frowned, glancing back at their teammate. "I don't know, she just looks like she always does when she reads?"

Yang threw one arm around her shoulders and fully seized her head with her other hand to motivate her to look better. "No, Ruby, she _clearly_ looks peaceful," she insisted.

The short haired girl stared for a second, making little to no attempt at discerning what Yang wanted her to see. "Okay, if you say so," she allowed, deciding to accept it as fact. "So you think we shouldn't bother her?"

"Maybe we shouldn't," she agreed, releasing her.

"Okay then." With this, Ruby signaled to Zwei to keep going and resumed her way towards the dorms. Walking a few feet made it obvious that her sister wasn't following along despite her implicitly agreeing they should resume their course. "Yang?"

Her eyes were riveted to her partner's distant outline in the scenery of the academy's green estate. The whole portrait was downright stunning and she just couldn't detach her gaze. She moreover just couldn't figure out how Ruby wasn't seeing what she was seeing; how Blake, so engrossed in her book, _unmistakably_ looked so very fascinatingly serene. "Just give me a second Rubes."

"Yang, you _just_ said we shouldn't disturb her."

"I'm not going to disturb her," the blonde argued with a scoff, throwing her a disapproving glance.

Ruby still wasn't discouraged from enquiring. "So you want to wait for her?"

"No but- just …" It was becoming increasingly obvious even to herself how very strange her indecisive behavior was and she found herself slightly exasperated. "Just go on ahead, I'll catch up."

The bemused look of judgment her sister gave her communicated very well how odd she was acting and, though she couldn't figure out for the life of her what she'd do once Ruby would resume towards their room, she still ousted her with a motion of her hand, signaling for her to get going. Ruby shrugged and went on, much too indifferent to insist.

Yang turned to contemplate her partner from afar again. Whatever she was reading not only seemed to have captured her undivided interest, but now also appeared to have struck her heart. Blake was visibly moved as she engrossedly went through the pages of her novel. It was quite unusual to see her so expressive and the brawler found herself losing track of time as she watched her. She noted the way she delicately turned the pages with her dainty fingers and the way she idly teetered the tip of her foot, her legs elegantly entwined. Blake had an effortless grace to her and even her jet black curls seemed to carry that very refinement as they swayed with the light breeze. The whole picture was nothing short of a work of art, absolutely surreally gorgeous and, though she found herself approaching a couple of feet, Yang was loathe to intrude on it.

Blake didn't raise her nose from her book as she spoke. "Why are you standing all the way over there, Yang?"

Completely taken by surprise, this prompted her to join her at last. "Sorry, I didn't want to disturb you," she offered, plopping down next to her.

Her piercingly golden orbs had followed her movement. "It's fine," she imperturbably allowed.

"How did you know I was there?" Yang curiously asked.

It was with that impenetrable gaze of hers that Blake stared at her, yet the blonde was absolutely unruffled, used to it by now. "Faunus' have more developed senses," she offered.

She blinked rapidly in puzzlement. "You mean you heard me?"

"That's not what I meant."

Yang frowned. What other sense was there that her partner could've identified her with? "So, like a fifth sense or something?"

"How was your trip?" Blake interrupted, seemingly unconcerned with enlightening her.

"Great!" She instantly beamed, letting herself be distracted from her interest in what little differences lied between their species. "Dad's doing well, things never change back home."

She nodded, closing her book. Blake paused for a fleeting moment, then her eyes slid to her partner again, critically wary. "You didn't happen to leave _it_ behind, did you?"

The brawler grinned wider. "We didn't. Zwei is still with us, headed to the dorm with Ruby,"

The faunus gave an uncharacteristically crude grunt and stood, dusting her butt.

Violet eyes followed her movement, still very amused. "Where're you going? In a hurry to go see him?"

Blake rolled her eyes, unamused. "I need to drop by the library," she explained, holding up her novel. "This book is due today and I'm not done. I also wanted to get more by the same author."

The blonde jumped on her feet again. "I'll come with you," she volunteered, more than happy to have some alone time to catch up with her partner.

As they walked towards the library, they idly chatted about their respective weekends. Given how the two siblings were gone one weekend a month, their two remaining teammates had had plenty of time to get to know each other better and Yang had discovered as time went on that it was anyone's bet as to whether Ruby and she would come back to their friends pleasantly laughing together or locked into a death match.

Well. Death match may be somewhat of an exaggeration, but more than once had they come back to find their friends had gotten into sometimes petty and other times less petty arguments. Yang felt that, as the year went by, the bickering had mostly subsided, yet they weren't quite immune to it and so... Blake had some venting to do. The offending argument of that particular weekend was in fact a recurring one; Weiss, in an attempt to spend more time with Neptune, had tried to get Blake to organize a double date with said blue-haired boy and the monkey faunus.

The topic itself, either because of how many times it'd been brought up or maybe because of what Weiss seemed to imply by asking this out of her teammate, would without fail have Blake quite irritable. So once that topic was broached, things inevitably went from bad to worse and, hence, though the request had more than likely been made on the Friday… on this Sunday evening, Blake was _still_ avoiding their room. The rant Yang was presently being subjected to was one she had heard half a dozen times, but the brawler didn't mind listening as her best friend obviously needed to get her frustration off her chest.

Yang in fact liked that her usually so reserved partner felt comfortable enough with her to not only vent to her, but also do so with the full knowledge she was repeating herself. Blake kept apologizing for sounding like a broken record while still going on about the same things she'd been whenever this problem arose. She'd tell Yang again about how she wasn't even close to Sun and how if they ever hung out it was because _he_ had somehow located her and invited himself to stick around. Or how the only reason she even had his contact information was because he texted himself from her phone to get her number and spammed her regularly. She'd then explain how she wasn't about to give up on the little reading time she had left on weekends to endure an awkward date she wanted no part of when Weiss could just go alone with Neptune. And how Weiss could do so much better than Neptune anyways.

Blake was still at it as they walked through the library hall, but she interrupted her almost too well rehearsed rant to point out two of their friends whom she'd barely ever seen in this building. The short redhead and her taciturn partner were both nose deep in an impressively large assortment of books and the rarity of the occurrence brought the two of them over to investigate. Neither Ren nor Nora noticed them until Yang poked the side of her ginger head. "You're the last person I would've expected in a library on Sunday evening," she snorted.

"Nora forgot about the Grimm biology paper due tomorrow," Ren flatly explained, not looking up from his book.

"I didn't forget," Nora argued, "I just didn't think it'd take _this long_!"

His gaze slid to her. "That's because you keep letting yourself get distracted," he sighed.

"I am _not_ distracted, I am doing _research_ ," she insisted, motioning to the pile of books around her.

Yang didn't fail to notice that more than two thirds of these books had nothing to do with Grimm or their biology. "With these?" She asked as she grabbed a book off the top of a pile, absentmindedly looking through it. It seemed to be a compilations of studies about Huntsmen demographics and statistics. "…Nora, what are you even researching?"

"Nothing that is not Grimm biology," she quickly declared.

" _Right_ ," Yang flatly retorted. Her gaze darted to Ren, expecting him to look mildly annoyed, but he'd simply gone back to work. She sifted through and noticed a paper had been left in to mark a page. In passing, she unconcernedly read out loud from a passage that had been highlighted. "...The estimated percentage of fully trained and certified Huntsmen and Huntresses who are have married— Over half of certified graduates... uh-huh... ...Oh! …And over _seventy percent_ of Huntsmen and Huntresses who _do_ marry will marry their partner or someone from their team…" Her gaze wandered up to Nora who looked so mortified it was obvious she'd just been caught red-handed. "That's why you bookmarked this page?" She amusedly asked.

"That's staggering odds," Ren commented, completely unruffled.

Nora gave a laugh that was unquestionably too loud for a library. "I don't know Yang, I didn't bookmark this, I'm studying _Grimm biology_ ," she dubiously blathered, laughing once more so very unconvincingly. "But, heeyyy! Those are interesting numbers!" She added, not so furtively glancing at her partner. "Though I guess this works better with a team like _ours_ , not as much for team RWBY here."

"Think again, Blake and I are getting married once we graduate."

Her head snapped their way as Nora's face fell, now staring at them.

To Yang's surprise, Blake scooted closer to lean her head on her shoulder as she took her arm in hers, the luscious dark locks pooled down her back and arm in a positively delightful way. The blonde noted how unexpectedly aware she was of just how nice her partner smelled.

"It _is_ legal in Mistral," the faunus nonchalantly added.

Yang tried her best to suppress her grin and keep a straight face; she had not anticipated for her friend to play along. She glanced down as her partner snuggled up to her and Blake's gorgeous golden orbs flickered up to meet her eyes, and it was only for a second, but it had the blonde's heart jump in her throat. There was something magnetically attractive about her half-lidded gaze and Yang was unexpectedly dizzied by a sudden upsurge of heat. The violet orbs stayed on her partner's long lashes and delicate features as the faunus returned her gaze to their short-haired friend.

Nora turned her confused gaze to Ren, who shrugged. "She's not wrong, it really is legal," he impassively offered, absolutely no help in his childhood friend's silent request to unmask this charade.

Yang could barely contain her glee; she didn't expect either of her friends to join in to play Nora and it was all she could do to keep a straight face.

Nora's vivid turquoise orbs studied her for an extended moment of evaluation before they drifted to Blake and then back to her. "…You two are _together_ together?" She finally asked.

She couldn't hold it anymore –the blonde broke into a hearty laugh. "Oh my god, you should see your face!"

Blake straightened up, which Yang found surprisingly dissatisfying because she really enjoyed her partner cuddling up to her. Though she'd still kept her arm looped together with hers, so at least there was that. Blake's attention was on Nora. "You _really_ believed we're…?"

"It was believable!" She defended, turning to her own partner for validation. Ren glanced at them for a second and simply resumed reading. "Even Ren believed it!" she added.

Yang gaped in surprise at the dark haired young man. He _hadn't_ been playing along? They'd actually fooled him too? She felt a mixed sense of pride, for having managed this, and surprise that someone as perceptive as him would believe them so readily.  
"You guys are too gullible," she said with a grin, glancing at her partner. She didn't know why she was vaguely disappointed Blake didn't meet her gaze the way she had just a second ago. Blake was apparently lost in thought, her magnetic golden riveted to the book Yang had read out loud from. The blonde in turn found herself staring at her for a second, noting again of how absurdly gorgeous the other woman was. "But if I was a guy, I'd _totally_ have had it _bad_ for Blake," she observed, turning back to their pair of friends. "I mean, she gave me bedroom eyes a second ago and I nearly lost my shit."

This snatched Blake's attention again. "I didn't—" she started to defend before perplexedly turning to her. "Wait, what?"

"I said I nearly lost it," Yang repeated, unabashed.

The very concept was one she didn't seem to be able to comprehend. "Because of… a look?" She emphasized disbelievingly. "A look _I_ gave you?"

"Yeah."

Clearly unsettled, Blake opened her mouth to speak but stayed mute. She didn't seem to find words before their friend interrupted.

"That's pretty gay," Nora pointed out.

Yang felt the blood rush to her cheeks at being called out on it; no matter how absurd it was, given the stunt she'd just pulled on Nora, it being plainly stated to her face somehow flustered her. "I swear to God though," she argued, as if it was any sort of valid argument to explain her reaction. Oddly shaken, she pointed from her partner to their redheaded friend. "Blake, give her that look too."

The faunus seemed to jolt with startlement. "What?"

"Give Nora the bedroom eyes you just gave me so she sees how powerful they are," she demanded.

"No offence, but it won't work," Nora interjected, pointing at herself. "Not into women."

"I'm not either, _that's the point_!" Yang insisted before she turned to her partner again. "Blake!"

"No," she curtly refused.

The brawler gave a displeased pout. "Why not?"

It was obvious her partner felt put on the spot and she seemed to shrink uncomfortably. "I just…" she started awkwardly before she somewhat got a hold of herself. "I can't. I didn't know I'd done anything," she defended. "I don't know how to do it on purpose," she then added in a mumble, moving away from her partner as she gave an unconvincing shrug.

"Wait, where are you going," Yang instantly interjected. She found herself unreasonably bothered with the void on her side now that the other woman's arm wasn't even looped with hers anymore.

Blake frowned, puzzled with her discontent. "…We came here because I wanted to get some books, remember?"

She held her partner's gaze longer than she had intended to before snapping out of it and turning back to Nora. Blake resumed her course towards the librarian's counter to renew her book and Yang promptly shook off the odd feeling that had taken over her; it was a bit chilly in the library and that must've been why she disliked Blake moving away. With this, she decided to sit with the pair until her partner was done. She slid into the seat in front on Nora, picking up at random a book that had been forgotten among the piles that had been amassed.

The redhead stared at her for a couple of seconds before leaning in. "…It wasn't a joke, wasn't it?" She re-inquired. "You can tell me. It's totally fine if you _are_ together."

"Nora, I've had boyfriends before," Yang dismissively commented, leaning back so far that she balanced her chair on the two rear legs. She let her head fall back in an attempt to catch a glimpse of the dark haired faunus down one of the aisles of books. She wondered how many poor souls did her feline partner vanquish with that gaze of hers.

"Are you saying that Blake used to be a boy?"

She almost lost her balance. "No!"

* * *

The last course that day was one of those aura workshops Professor Goodwitch would regularly hold. Though they'd had extensive aura training at Signal, Yang was still staggered with how much more there had been to learn. Case in point, this very technique they were required to practice today was one of those things she had no idea was even possible. Their teacher expected them to attempt what she'd called an aura pulse. As a reference point, she had compared it to CPR, in that it was meant as first aid or, had push come to shove, an emergency means of resuscitation. They were to achieve this by scanning their partner's aura to find its core and jolting said core into activating with their own aura.

Yang stared down at her partner. "Do you go first, or do I go first?"

She saw Blake's eyes flicker down to her chest for a second before she locked eyes with her again. "It doesn't really matter, I guess."

So with this, Yang moved closer, oddly aware that she could feel her friend's body heat from this distance. She pressed her hand to where she assumed Blake's heart would be, only to notice it wasn't quite right. However, once her hand was on her friend's torso, it was easy to find the right location given her heart's vigorous pounding. Her eyes drifted from what she was touching to meet her partner's gaze, witnessing how fretful Blake indeed visibly was. Yang hadn't expected her to be so agitated, but on second thought, this may be a very deep and personal thing they were about to attempt… so it wasn't too farfetched to assume it made Blake uneasy.

Thinking of this also seemed to make the blonde come aware of the magnitude of what was about to happen. Exploring someone else's aura wasn't something she'd done before, not even with Ruby, and it brusquely seemed like she'd be encroaching on most private territory.

"…You think this is going to be weird?" She found herself asking.

"It doesn't matter what I think, we need to learn how to do it."

"Right," she acquiesced. Blake's heart was nevertheless hammering violently under her palm, which served to remind her of exactly where her hand was. Only a couple of inches and she'd be cupping her breast in her hand. "It's not like it isn't already a little weird," she pointed out.

"Concentrate, Yang," the faunus impatiently instructed.

Being called out had her flustered. "I'm trying," she huffed, though she hadn't yet made any attempts. "If you think it's so easy, you go first."

"Fine," she flatly retorted.

Yang felt the faintest sketch of a frown overtake her previous embarrassment and she pouted ever so slightly.

The other woman raised her eyebrows, absolutely unmoved. Her golden eyes slid to Yang's hand still on her torso and snapped back up to meet hers.

"Right." She dropped her arm to her side and waited for her partner to in turn adopt the right stance.

Blake stayed motionless for a moment, unwaveringly staring up into her eyes. Yang couldn't seem to decipher why she did so. Her stare was incredibly focused and it almost felt like she stalled…? Most pairs had already started. Finally, the faunus cautiously approached her hand to find the skin underneath the orange scarf.

The blonde blinked confusedly; surely her partner knew the heart wasn't so high in one's chest? Nevertheless, she spoke up. "Lower, Blake."

"You're not supposed to help. If this happens on the field, you may be passed out," she muttered.

"…I'm just saying it's lower," Yang nonchalantly maintained.

She gave a dissatisfied grunt and moved her hand a bit lower on her torso, going from closer to her neck to instead effectively press her palm into breast tissue. Yang felt her heart rate jump and golden orbs snapped up to hers once more. Of course Blake felt that. The blonde all at once felt too self-conscious and unsettled. Yes, she'd indeed told her friend to move her hand lower and _yes_ , Blake's hand was exactly where it should be, over her heart, but somehow she hadn't added it all up that with how ample her own chest was her friend would effectively press into it.

Yang sucked in her lips embarrassedly for not even a second. The vague thought that Blake's hand was quite small compared to the size of her breast floated through her mind. Never mind male hands, even her own were quite a bit larger, so if Blake was to try and grab—

She stopped herself, shaking the bizarre thought away.

Her straying train of thought translated to some sort of awkward daze which didn't go unnoticed to Blake, or maybe it was the so very peculiar pounding of her heart, because her friend eventually inquired. "Is this making you nervous?

Refusing to be caught off guard, Yang found herself throwing back her partner's previous retort. "Concentrate, Blake," she mocked.

The bow on her head twitched as her ears manifestly had the impulse to flatten backwards, but her expression remained mostly unchanged. Or maybe did she purse her lips just slightly?

"Just… come closer," Blake grumbled.

Finally settling into a more studious mood, Yang did as instructed and closed her eyes. She applied her best efforts at reining in her wayward attention span to instead focus on the warmth emanating from her friend's hand. Swiftly, she was able to slow her breathing to a meditative pace, readying herself to be manipulated.

Nothing could've prepared her for what came next; the way Blake's aura broke through to dive into her own was shockingly invasive and savage. It felt like a ferocious beast lurching forward with staggering vigor, as if her partner had been expecting to be tearing through barriers and, though nothing had been barring the way, now that she was in Blake had come to an abrupt stop.

Both of them seemed to be stunned into stillness by the experience. Yang, on her side, had not expected something so feral to be living inside her usually so discreet and impassive partner, she almost didn't recognize her. She couldn't quite grasp why Blake came to a halt after storming through this way, but it quickly became evident that her partner was either confused, lost, or at least disoriented in some way. The part of herself Blake had projected into Yang's aura felt more than a little agitated, maybe even near panicked.

Without opening her eyes, she inched a little closer to whisper to her. "…What's wrong, Blake?"

She inhaled sharply, in an obvious but manifestly futile effort to get a hold of herself. "I shouldn't be in there," she shakily mouthed.

As she said this, Yang could feel the other woman's aura start to withdraw and, maybe it was Blake's unease or maybe something was going wrong, but a destabilizing urgency took hold of her. It felt like her partner was vanishing. Like maybe Yang would lose her forever were she not to soothe her. "What, no, it's fine. You're _supposed_ to," she countered. Yet it still felt like Blake was slipping through her fingers as she still seemed to be retreating. "Blake."

"I don't belong," she insisted, her voice sounding choked.

Yang wasn't sure what distressed her so. If she had to take a guess, the only thing that came to mind was that her own aura felt overly foreign of a space to the other woman and she had trouble adjusting. "Yes you _do_. You belong," she countered, "Blake, you're not in a weird place, this is _me_ ," she reminded her in an attempt to help soothe the obvious anxiety this new experience brought her friend. "I don't know what you're seeing in there, or if it hurts, and if it does—"

"It's not painful," Blake cut in.

"Good," Yang gave, nodding to herself. "Then there shouldn't be any problem, right?"

"…I guess," the faunus reluctantly mumbled, somewhat taking a hold of herself.

Her partner's snowballing disquiet had very clearly started to ease off already and so, as her voice seemed to appease her, Yang found herself continuing. "I don't know how different it is compared to your own aura or how taxing it is to be in there, but if it helps, I'm gonna try and… lay low? Give you free range," she gently added in an effort to encourage her to explore. "…And uh…I-…I don't know what you'll have access to or how… what you may… if you'll see… stuff, or h-how…." She trailed off, realizing her sentence had gotten lost into directionless rambling. "…Anyways, I trust you. I'm fine with you seeing or… experiencing whatever you'll find inside of me," she asserted and, with this, she moved a hand to press it over her friend's on her chest to both help convey her sincerity and reassure her.

She didn't know if it was that very contact or her words, but the restlessness emanating from the shapeless projection of her partner's aura almost dissipated entirely. The presence she felt inside of her changed from that unsettling creature to become something so very familiar that Yang felt an insuppressible smile stretch her lips. Yes… _this_ was the Blake she knew.

Being so glad that she was able to appease her, the blonde felt her heart swell and it seemed like the inexorable positivity of what she felt drew her partner further into her aura. She could distinctly discern her life force as she wandered closer to… Yang had trouble distinguishing _what_ exactly Blake was closing onto, since all of it was what she was made of after all, but somewhere within herself it felt like there was a source from which her aura emanated and Blake unquestionably was threading close to it. The whole experience was exhilarating and mystifying and the anticipation of feeling her partner close onto something that was likely the very core of her being was indescribably thrilling.

The instant contact was made, a pulse of aura reverberated through her body and Yang felt something akin to her semblance being triggered. Energy she hadn't mustered of her own volition was coursing through her and she felt so alive and _ready_ , it was obvious the exercise had been successful. It was a very odd feeling to be kicked into gear by an exterior force, she absolutely understood how this would come in handy were there to be an emergency.

Having accomplished the task given by their teacher, her partner stopped doing whatever it was she was doing and the second she did, the gratifying sensation of vigor abruptly came to a halt. Then, as there was no reason for her to stay, Blake started withdrawing.

The feeling of her retreating was unexpectedly horrendous; the further away Blake moved from the heart of her aura, the greater did an intense feeling of loss rip through her. It was the same feeling she'd experienced earlier, as Blake had been about to exit without doing anything, and Yang understood it hadn't been caused by her then anxiety, that it was closely intertwined with the retreat itself.  
It felt as if something powerful was forcefully tearing her friend away and, as her partner's aura kept moving further away from her, she found herself clutching the hand that was still under hers, on her chest. She had the alarming sensation that Blake was slipping between her fingers and, though she pertinently _knew_ her friend was physically there, though she _knew_ that it was only normal that Blake should leave her aura and that what she was feeling was without a doubt only caused by a mistake they'd made, it was _still_ distressingly alarming.

She felt Blake's presence fade so quickly, it felt like it was too late to do anything about it. Though what _was_ there to do? She could compel her to stay and linger a second more, but she would need to leave sooner or later. After all, her partner had been a foreign presence. Yet it _still_ felt like a giant gash had been torn into her very soul now that she couldn't feel her there anymore. It was hard to breathe.

Blake's hand pressed into the flesh of her chest more keenly than it had been, or maybe it was Yang who pressed it more strongly into herself? She was shaking. Or was she? Was it Blake's hand that was shaking? Or Blake herself? It was so hard to tell. The experience had ruffled and confused her more than she could've expected.

She exhaled brusquely the breath she'd been holding and, as her eyes fluttered open, they locked with her friend's unexpectedly distressed and glassy gaze. It was plain and clear that Blake too had been tremendously shaken by the process of withdrawing and Yang could only attribute the discomfort they were now feeling to the intense bonding that this exercise had brought about. Still, she was astonished to notice the faunus was blinking back tears.

"Are you okay, Blake?" She gently whispered.

"I… I wasn't ready for this," she admitted, apparently trying to find her bearings. "What about you…? Are _you_ okay?"

"I'm fine," she dismissed, trying her best to brush off the lingering feeling of loss and loneliness. It was an unexpectedly painful void that had been left behind and, though it was somewhat subsiding, it wasn't doing so nearly fast enough for her liking. Immediately, she thought of how she was meant to attempt the reverse experimentation on Blake and of how diving into her friend's aura may appease the ache she now felt. Of course, she suspected that when they'd have to separate again this feeling may very well come back, but that was a problem she'd deal with in time. "Are you ready for me to give it a shot?" She questioned, restless and shaken.

Blake didn't look like she had recovered from what had happened but nodded nonetheless, undeniably agitated too. "Yes. Yes, go ahead," she urged.

Yang pressed her hand to her partner's chest. Somehow, the awkwardness she'd felt earlier about touching her so close to her breast was now the furthest thing from her mind; all she was able to think of was easing the emptiness she felt. She shut her eyes, struggling to still her mind, straining to focus and remember their teacher's directives.

"Don't force it," Blake whispered as if she'd known. "It'll happen on its own."

The fact that this single cue did a better job at guiding the blonde than any part of the lengthy explanation Professor Goodwitch had given spoke volumes about how well her partner knew her. Letting the flow of energy course through her and forward had it rapidly feel like something gave way and the next moment, she entered her partner's aura.

Although the space around her felt so fundamentally different than anything she had ever experienced before, although it was nothing comparable to the world surrounding their physical bodies or to how she felt within herself, it soothed her even more than she had initially anticipated it may. Blake's presence being more tangible than ever, the stillness, the calm, _all of it_ was amazingly appeasing.

Blake's aura was dense, opaque, almost heavy. Yang had the impression of descending in slow motion through the same kind of alluring darkness as one would when falling asleep, it wasn't unlike sinking. It was inviting, comforting, bottomless. She wanted to keep falling. She wanted to drown if it meant staying there forever. The very space around her felt like Blake and she felt so completely enveloped in her, it brought her immeasurable peace. She forgot why she'd taken the plunge; the obscurity and the silence shrouding her had brought her to a complete stop.

It was being tugged at and pulled in deeper that shook her out of the inertia. She didn't open her eyes. "Are you doing this?" The blonde asked, smiling to herself.

"You weren't doing anything," Blake plainly answered.

"I was taking it in."

"There's nothing to take in."

Yang found her answer incredibly amusing given how surreal the experience was. "There's _a lot_ to take in," she argued. "So much so that it's overwhelming." As she said this, an unexpectedly awkward and tense sensation washed over her, making it clear that bathing in her friend's aura this way allowed her to some extent to sense her emotions.

"Nothing… weird, I hope?" Blake tentatively asked.

"Weird?" Yang repeated, wondering what she meant. "Well… it's certainly nothing like I've experienced before but… it's pleasant."

"I see." She exhaled softly. "Just, please…focus, okay?"

The bizarre way her friend reacted made her wonder if maybe Blake wasn't as comfortable with her being there as she herself had felt letting herself drift in her aura. Doing her best to shake herself back into action and follow through with the exercise that brought her where she was to start with, she scanned her surroundings in an effort to find something that lay deeper. She needed to locate something that felt like… _more_. Something that would feel like the origin of what was engulfing her, anything that could feel like a core of energy. Perhaps her resoluteness got through to her partner as she was tugged at again. She let herself be guided to wherever Blake had to lead her.

Drifting deeper, into another layer maybe, almost felt like entering a secret garden. There was an insistent feeling of secrecy, trust and warmth. Yang didn't know how she knew, because after all she couldn't quite _see_ in the proper sense of the word, but she could tell the layer closest to what was probably her core, her heart, her _very being_ , was a gentle violet. She almost forgot again why she was there so comfortable and at peace she was, but she did manage to take a hold of herself on her own this time.

Stirring her friend's aura must've been an intuitive thing because she somehow knew how to do it; a single pulsation of her own aura incurred reverberation from the very space all around her. It was shockingly powerful and Yang could tell that, were she to open her eyes and look, she'd see Blake's aura shining around her body.

"That was easy," the blonde amusedly commented.

Her partner hummed an uncommitted but positive-ish response. Her lack of enthusiasm made Yang wonder how much Blake had actually helped her. Additionally, she again wondered if maybe her intruding into her aura this way may not have felt as comfortable to Blake. So with this worry creeping at the back of her mind in addition to having been successful with her venture, she resolved that she should promptly get out.

Drawing away even just a bit had that dreadful sensation surface again. The further she drew from the core of her partner's aura, the more it felt like she was slipping away, like she was losing grip; she hated it but... she knew it was unavoidable because she couldn't just _stay_.  
That the miserable sensation that was rapidly taking hold of her was a direct echo of the feeling she'd had earlier, it was a horrendous feeling of loss, of grief and of loneliness. And it was true she had indeed expected this unpleasant feeling to resurface again, but she hadn't expected it to be so violently magnified. She wondered if, when Blake had to withdraw from her earlier, it'd felt this heartbreaking. If it had, no wonder her partner had been tearing up.

Why was it that taking the plunge into someone else's aura felt better than leaving it? After all, being separated was the natural state; someone else's aura was foreign space. So _why_? Was it because being joined amplified energy or something like that?

Yang gasped, still attempting to tear herself out, struggling to bear with the throbbing anguish and harsh isolation that quickly festered. Wanting to shake herself out of that meditative state had her eyes snap open, only to realize… Blake had taken her in her arms.

She didn't know when Blake had closed the distance and was utterly shocked. First by the fact that she hadn't noticed when it had happened, but even more so that Blake would do this at all.  
Although her dark haired partner wouldn't reject Yang whenever she'd get up in her space, she also never had initiated this way before. Her hand remained pressed between them, on the faunus's heart, and yet Blake had still managed to latch onto her firmly enough to crush their bodies together. And as if this wasn't disconcerting enough… though it was _she_ who had taken the plunge in her partner's aura, the brawler could somehow _clearly_ feel the other woman's aura lingering inside of her too.

Was Blake projecting into her again? Or was this remnants of earlier? Or maybe this had become a two way street? Were they somehow sharing their auras?

She couldn't tell what exactly was happening and she didn't know if any of these reasons were why she felt so urgently compelled to reciprocate, but she instinctively did. Her hand wiggled from between them and she wrapped her arm around the faunus's shoulders to instead burry the hand that'd been over her heart deeply in the luscious dark locks while, with the other now wrapped around her waist, she clutched her so desperately tight it staggered even herself. She nearly crushed her against her own body; she felt Blake's breath against her ear, the warmth of her cheek against hers and the very life from her body in her arms as their auras resonated together. And it felt… Not enough?

It was completely absurd but the awareness that they were two distinct, two entirely separate living beings was ridiculously painful. She couldn't understand how or why; after all, not being two meant being one, didn't it? And how or why would she need to be one with Blake…? She nevertheless tightened her grip on her and Blake sighed in relief when she did, clutching her back as urgently. Yang had the certainty her partner felt the same tearing within herself, that agonizing void which only seemed to be helped by attempting to crush each other into a single entity.

It was a long moment before they finally seemed to be able to stabilize their auras and she felt herself settling into her own. She was shaking. Blake was also noticeably shaking against her. The vacant feeling of loss still unquestionably persisted, but it had now become manageable. When their surroundings finally faded back in, the awareness of how they were still in class took over how invested she'd been in her moment with Blake and they both embarrassedly let go. Her eyes scanned the room quickly to gage whether or not they'd inadvertently put on a show; she was relieved to find there were a small handful of others that ended up in a similar embraces and were separating. Ruby and Weiss seemed to still be wrapping up the exercise with a standard distance between them. The clear white aura faded from around the short heiress and they both opened their eyes at about the same time the teacher called for their attention, resuming class.

Her eyes darted to her friend. "You're not much of a hugger usually," Yang commented under her breath.

Blake looked like she wanted to retort something snarky and dismissive but thought twice. "…This wasn't usual," she conservatively offered.

"Point." She turned again to their teacher at the front of the group.

"When you withdrew," the faunus almost inaudibly added, "it… left an emptiness I couldn't stomach. I couldn't help myself."

"I felt it too," Yang gently acknowledged, not too keen on teasing her in spite of her initial remark. Something was still urging her to be as close as possible to Blake and, though she didn't understand it, she nevertheless felt controlled by it. With both of them turned towards their teacher to at least appear like they were listening, Yang leaned ever so slightly to brush her arm to her partner's; Blake almost imperceptibly tilted her head and her eyes furtively slid towards her to glance at her.

The blonde couldn't tell what their teacher was going on about, she was completely unable to focus on her voice. The so very minimal skin contact of her upper arm to her partner's seemed to transmit a debilitatingly alleviating warmth, it made her mind go blank. She was incredibly thankful Blake didn't move away. She supposed that her friend understood why she was intruding on her space the way she was. It also had her wonder if maybe Blake felt as stumped and disoriented as she did, if maybe this comforted her too.

The rest of the lesson sped by and she was still deep in her thoughts as Professor Goodwitch wrapped up the class and dismissed the students.

"Yang, are you okay with me moving?"

This almost had her jump out of her skin and she promptly moved away, a little embarrassed. "Of course, yeah," she hastily retorted though her answer was nothing but a discomfited impulse. She hadn't yet truly felt fine and ready to move.

Nevertheless, they busied themselves gathering their belongings and the violet eyes were glued to her partner walking a few steps ahead of her as they exited the classroom. All she wanted to do was seize her and immobilize her in a bear hug to attempt to somehow appease that lingering feeling of isolation. And although she was practically certain Blake felt the same emptiness and would welcome her, she was a bit too self-conscious to encroach on her personal space again. They ended up waiting by the door for their two teammates with an awkward distance between them. "Goodwitch should've warned us this would happen," Yang bemoaned. "It's really unpleasant."

"What's unpleasant?" Ruby's voice interjected as she and Weiss joined them.

With a pout, the blonde glanced at her sister. "Being…" she searched for the right way to put it. "Being… alone again."

"Alone?"

Yang motioned through the gap between her and Blake. "You know, separated."

Weiss looked as confused as her younger partner. "What do you mean?"

The brawler knit her brow. Did their two teammates not feel this hollowness severing the aura link had caused? "You didn't bond? The exercise we just did. Did you two fail?" She shot back in surprise.

"What? No, of course not," Weiss defended heatedly, looking quite offended. "I activated Ruby's aura as instructed and she subsequently did the same with me. We did _exactly_ as instructed."

Yang glanced over at her partner who happened to do the same, sharing a quizzical stare. Baffled, she turned her gaze to her sister again. "And you didn't feel…sad? After?" She asked, not knowing how to qualify what she'd been feeling since they'd separated.

Now it was Ruby and Weiss who looked at each other curiously. Their leader looked over again at her sister. "Sad?"

"Nevermind," Blake cut in uncomfortably.

"Maybe _you_ made a mistake somewhere," Weiss huffed as they all started towards their room.

Opting not to argue, the brawler silently followed her team. She was still in a complete daze and, as they walked down the hall, Blake's hand brushed hers. The contact jolted her into an odd state of awareness; Yang didn't know if it'd been an accident or if this had been a silent request from Blake, but she didn't think twice before she entwined her fingers with hers. It felt so unbelievably calming to walk hand in hand that the brawler lost track of what the other pair was chatting about, deeply lost in thought.  
She was convinced that there had been no mistake. In fact, Yang was persuaded that Blake and she had managed better than most other students. But she wasn't about to tell Weiss that, especially not while being so incapable of explaining what had happened.

"Did you guys see how some pairs were hugging?" Ruby chirped, inadvertently grabbing the blonde's attention again. "That was sweet!" She then nudged Weiss with her elbow. "Maybe next time we'll end up hugging, huh? BFF?"

She tsked, moving away from the offensive prodding. "Ruby, did you not notice? Of course we wouldn't," she countered. "First, there were very few of them, but also… the pairs who did hug are… they're not _just_ friends."

The blonde's attention was drawn to her partner as Blake abruptly made her release her hand.

"Since when are Ren and Nora not just friends?" Ruby argued.

Weiss rolled her eyes. "Give them time."

"Huh," Ruby pensively exhaled. "Why would friends not do it though?"

The short heiress rolled her eyes. "You really ought to study more if you want to be an adequate leader." She nonetheless complied in offering an explanation. "Your aura is a manifestation of your soul."

"I know that," she pouted.

" _Therefore_ ," Weiss tersely continued, "if you attempt to bond your _soul_ to someone whom you have powerful enough feelings for, to someone who has this much influence on your heart… It's only to be expected that they'll have access to a wider range of your aura. They'll be able to reach deeper and you therefore have a more powerful experience. It's all the more true the closer you are with them because the better they know you and the more you trust them, the more malleable your aura will be to them," she explained. "Mere friends _rarely_ know and trust each other enough for that."

"I trust _you_ more than I would trust some guy," Ruby still argued.

Her white haired partner shook her head. "Not _some_ guy, Ruby. _The_ guy," she stressed. "You know, some people end up mingling and sharing their aura when this happens. That means they mingle and share their _very souls,_ that's no little feat," she insisted, finally getting a nod from the short-haired leader. "So, imagine managing _that_ … and then having to separate. It'd feel like part of your soul is leaving you. Of course, it's an erroneous impression since the part you feel is leaving is actually simply the other person separating, it's things being restored to their natural order. But the hug is nothing but a consequence of this; it's an impulsive attempt at reunifying something that feels like it should be a whole." Weiss finished explaining, pausing her brisk walk towards their room to stare at her partner. "…And so, friendship isn't enough for it to happen."

In light of what she'd felt, what was being explained made a ridiculous amount of sense. It very well put into words an experience she had been unable to describe. Instinctively, Yang turned her gaze to her partner and the way Blake brusquely dropped her head to avoid eye contact made her realize she'd been staring at her. The mix of dread and dismay that now petrified the faunus's features as she obstinately stared at the ground wasn't what Yang had expected at all. She didn't know why, but her partner's apparent consternation with all this only made her want to validate what she'd considered to be a very positive and transformative experience and so, she spoke up.

"You're wrong," Yang declared, drawing the heiress's attention. "It _has_ to happen at least with close friends also because Blake hugged me," she declared, coming forward with what their teammates apparently hadn't noticed. "And I really _needed_ to hug her back when she did."

"You—" Weiss started, displeased at being informed she was wrong, then she seemed to process what she was being told. She stared at Yang for a second, then her eyes drifted to the faunus. "…That's not supposed to happen," she simply said.

Blake shrugged uneasily, staying mute. She looked like she wanted the ground to open up and swallow her whole.

"Well it must sometimes, because it _did_ ," Yang argued in her stead.

Weiss frowned. "True, but—"

"Hey, Rubes," Yang cut in. "I forgot to tell you, but we received that special issue of that weapon magazine you love. The one you were waiting for about dust upgrades," she said in her best effort to divert everyone's attention. She couldn't seem to comprehend what made her partner so uncomfortable, but she didn't want to stretch the conversation needlessly if it caused her this much uneasiness.

The high-pitched squeal that Ruby produced was the sort any other girl her age would reserve for boys bands. " _I WAITED ALL YEAR_ ," she excitedly bellowed, grasping her partner's arm and starting a mad dash towards their room.

Weiss threw the blonde a scowl that clearly read 'this is not over' as she let herself be dragged by the red hurricane.

Yang watched them disappear around the corner before she addressed her partner. "I don't know why you're so mortified," she commented before turning to her. " _Obviously_ what Weiss was saying about friends not being able to was wrong. Things like that, people like to romanticize and exaggerate," she offered. "Maybe it doesn't happen with just any friends, but given that it happened to us, it _has_ to happen with people we have some sort of complicity with. Or something."

Blake just held her school briefcase tighter to her body. "So, you're not... weirded out?"

That her friend would ever think she'd look at her differently for a reason as inconsequential as this one made her chest hurt. Moreover, she truly couldn't fathom _not_ reciprocating then so prevailing the need to hold her had been. Why Blake felt this self-conscious about hugging her in the first place was a mystery to her.

"I think it's weird that most people didn't," Yang affirmed, drawing her gaze. "You're my best friend and I felt _so_ connected to you, and…it really felt like I was losing you when you started withdrawing," she defended, trying her very best not to recall the pain that still seemed to linger. "What I'm saying is, I understand why you did what you did when I was withdrawing. And that, to me, _they're_ all weird for staying so detached after having shared such a powerful experience."

Blake pensively kept her gaze on the ground and, though she didn't answer, Yang could tell she'd gotten through to her somewhat. Her partner's body language had visibly lost some tension.

"It makes me believe that not everyone has bonded as well with their partner as I did with you," the blonde still added. "And I'm really sad for them."

Very slowly, looking still so very deep in thought, Blake started down the hall again. They walked in silence for maybe a minute before Blake addressed her again. "So," she interjected with a light frown, her golden orbs sliding up to meet the violet ones, "if we separated to see other pairs were hugging, you'd have been sad had we _not_ been?"

"Hell yeah," she swiftly answered. "I've never been as close to anyone and I've _never_ trusted anyone like I trust you. If it wasn't gonna happen with you, then I don't see how I could manage with anyone else. Ever."

In a rare instance of unguardedness, Blake gazed up at her with an expression that would only rarely cross her features. It was gentle and pensive and extraordinarily tender, very unlike the faunus's typically undecipherable mask. Yang always wondered what went through her head when her expression softened this way, but she never dared speak about it because she was convinced that, would Blake ever realize it happened, she would do everything in her power not to allow it to surface. And Yang _really_ liked when Blake looked at her this way.

Moreover, it had been happening more and more often lately and it felt to her like her friend was finally getting more comfortable with her.

Yang smiled widely in response. "You underestimate how much you mean to me, Blake," she started again, wanting her to feel validated with letting down her guard, "and while I probably _overestimate_ how much you actually care about me," she jokingly added, "I think we—"

"You don't," Blake promptly interjected. "On the contrary."

Completely stunned, she stared at her for a second, as if unable to comprehend what her friend was telling her. "What?"

"…Come on," she urged, resuming in direction of their dorm room.

"Oh no, you don't," Yang scoffed with a disbelieving smile, going after her. "What did you mean by that?"

"What do you think I meant?" she begrudgingly answered; Blake looked like she positively regretted correcting her.

"That I _don't_ overestimate how much you care about me, on the contrary, so then maybe I underestimate it?" She beamed, nudging her with her shoulder. "Is that right?"

She gave a pained sigh. "I don't know how much you think I care about you," she vaguely offered. "So I don't know how accurate either statements would be."

"Don't try to wriggle out of this," Yang warned. "You just told me you care more than I thought."

"That's not what I said."

"That's what was implied."

Blake glanced up at her with what Yang could only call uncertainty. Ultimately, she seemed to give up on trying to take back what she'd spontaneously admitted and briskly started walking again without another word.

A little confused, the blonde lightly jogged to catch up to her. The bow on her head was clearly slanted towards the back and Yang got the feeling that maybe she had pushed her luck a bit too far with her teasing given how wavering her friend's composure had been a few minutes ago. "…Hey, Blake," she called again, grasping her arm to slow her walk. "I'm sorry if I'm pushy, it's just that it made me really happy," she explained earnestly, getting her to stop entirely. "You're a bit hard to read, so hearing you say that, I just… got really excited."

Violet orbs watched as the black bow returned to a less tense and more upright position, then drifted down to gaze at Blake's completely even expression. The blonde didn't know what gods to thank that her partner was a faunus because, were it not for those practically unnoticeable angles of her ears under that bow, she'd often be indecipherable.

"You're really important to me and not just because you're my partner," Yang started again. "You've become someone I have trouble imagining my life without and meanwhile…" She trailed off as other students walked past them chatting between their small group. Her hand dropped from Blake's arm, though she loathed to cut physical contact again. Golden eyes scrutinized her unfairly analytically and Yang suddenly felt quite self-conscious. She nevertheless forced herself to continue. "Meanwhile…I feel like I exasperate you way too often."

Blake exhaled gently. "You don't," she allowed. However disinclined she was from offering more reassuring words, her expression was now definitely softer.

"I know. 'Cause you just told me that you care more than I thought you did," the brawler cheekily shot, earning herself a very uncommitted scowl. With a wide grin, she wrapped her arm around her shoulder and forced her to her side before she planted a kiss on her temple somewhere among soft dark bangs.

Blake didn't make a sound, but she did lean into her ever so slightly.

Yang surprised herself with the overwhelming impression that overcame her… the absolute _certainty_ that she had never been more complete than in that instant.  
That disconcerting feeling was so incredibly prevalent, it utterly baffled her. That was, until she remembered how bonded she'd felt to the other woman during the exercise they'd done not even an hour ago and _obviously_ what she felt now was merely remnants from that temporary connection between their auras.

With a smile, she leaned her head against hers. It truly felt strange for her best friend to make her feel this way, yet she still decided to enjoy the warmth it brought her and so, she decided to give into the urge. She turned towards her completely so she could drag her into an embrace similar to the one they'd been locked into earlier. The other woman stiffened in her arms, maybe even stopped breathing. Yang squeezed her a little tighter anyways, savoring the gentle warmth of her body in her arms, the silkiness of her dark hair against her cheek, the now so familiar and soothing scent of her.

It was a few uncertain seconds for Blake to react. "What are you doing?" She eventually asked.

"I felt like it," Yang offered with a light shrug, maintaining her embrace. "I think there's something lingering from earlier. Plus, you're very huggable," she then added, smiling to herself.

As she obstinately kept her against herself, Yang eventually sensed the tension leaving her partner's body, ultimately feeling Blake's hands settle on her lower back. The faunus leaned her forehead to her shoulder as she almost imperceptibly nestled into her arms and Yang could only assume the earlier exercise had also left Blake with this lingering sense of wholeness about being together. Blake's slow breathing as she seemed to melt into her incited her to relax even more. She closed her eyes as she gathered her even more protectively, so very thankful to be able to hold her this way again. It almost startled her to hear her speak.

"Your aura," Blake's voice seemed to unpause the course of time, "it was so…different," she commented in no more than a whisper. "It was… a blindingly bright, endlessly open space."

The intimacy of the embrace compelled her speak as quietly as the other woman. "Is that how it felt to you?"

She gave a vaguely affirmative hum. "The immensity and brilliance destabilized me a great deal at first."

"Was that why you were uneasy?"

Blake pressed her face closer into her; Yang surprisingly _adored_ that she did that. "I guess," the faunus groused. "I'm not used to lacking the comfort of shadows to hide in."

"Shadows," Yang repeated pensively, both her hands had gotten lost in the silky midnight locks, slowly rubbing up and down her back. "That's not really how I would describe your aura though."

"No?"

"No…" She trailed off, shaking her head almost imperceptibly in a contemplative motion. "I don't know. It was dark, but… also, dense. It was really heavy but comfortable, maybe like a thick blanket?" She said, almost more thinking out loud than anything else. It was incredibly challenging to describe such a surreal experience. "I don't know. It was silent and really soothing, I liked it."

"… _Really_?" She retorted cynically.

This change of disposition took Yang aback. "…You don't believe me"

The dark haired faunus sighed, returning to a less sneering but nonetheless still pessimistic tone. "Of course I don't," she gave. The uncomfortable shrinking caused by the tension creeping through Blake's body gave the blonde the impression that her partner wanted to move away from her; she held her a little tighter in anticipation. The bow twitched against the brawler's cheek when she did so and Blake waited a long moment, eventually relaxing again. "There is a war inside of me, Yang."

"Maybe," she allowed, "but you're not that war," she strongly asserted, feeling her partner become completely still in her arms. Yang pressed her hand on her back, amongst dark curls, maybe where she may be able to feel her heartbeat on her back. "Who you are is _not_ whatever's tearing you apart, no matter how torn up you feel. The Blake I know and love is… sensible and calm and principled and trustworthy. And it only makes sense to me that your aura would reflect that," she affirmed. "…So… it was comforting to me to be surrounded by you."

Her hands, which had been loosely resting on Yang's lower back, now gave way to her arms as she tightened her hold on her and pressed their bodies together. Blake exhaled shakily into the fabric of her orange scarf. "I don't deserve someone like you," she whispered.

Yang grinned and gave a playful squeeze. "You're right," she shot. "You deserve _better_. But you picked me and now you're stuck with me."

Blake scoffed and separated just enough to be able to look at her; it looked as if she was about to say something but reconsidered.

Yang stared down at her. Into her gorgeous golden eyes and at the way her midnight-colored bangs framed them. Or at the way they also framed her cheekbones and her delicate features. Again, the same as whenever they were this intimately close, she was struck by how breathtakingly beautiful her partner was and, the same as every time she was struck this way, Yang inevitably lost track of her own train of thoughts. She just dumbly stared down at her with the unyielding sensation that there was something more she should do. Or maybe say? But she was at loss with what it could be and it was unbelievably unnerving. After all, what could there be left to do when she was just standing there looking down at her best friend in her arms?

Nora's voice broke their peaceful silence. "Are you two going to kiss?" she called loudly, making them both jump out of their skin.

" _What_?!" The blonde cried, feeling her partner tear herself away from her.

"I told you! You didn't need to play it off as a joke," the redhead affirmed with a grin, "Ren and I are rooting for you!" She then added, using her fingers and thumbs to create a heart shape.

"Nora, I _swear_ it's not—" Yang couldn't finish her sentence, their friend had already scampered off.

- **tbc**


	3. Chapter 3

"Blake," she released her lips only long enough to moan her name quietly, shifting to move herself on top of her.

As their bodies came together, the warmth, her weight, the softness of her shape, it all woke something in Blake she'd read about so many times but, until that very moment, had yet to experience for herself. She arched her back lightly under her, wanting to feel more, and Yang gasped in the kiss. The blonde hurriedly caressed her cheek before her hand dropped to undo the red ribbon at the base of her neck and subsequently the top buttons of her white uniform shirt. As soon as she had access to her skin, her hand was warm on her neck, moving up again to her jaw and down over her shirt to massage her shoulder and Blake could only hope for it to drop lower, for her fingers to drift to her breast, anywhere down her body. Yang's tongue in her mouth only made her think of how utterly _glorious_ it'd feel somewhere else. Her core ached and the skin of her thighs stuck together with the dampness, with her embarrassingly soaked underwear.

She clutched her closer, delirious with the feeling of her generous chest pressing against her, of the inebriating, so sweet smell of her heap of luscious golden curls, of her so exquisitely feminine hourglass shape as Blake's hands ran down her sides, on her waist, on her hips… which Yang gently thrust, pressing her pelvis against hers. Blake realized that she'd started encouraging her to do so, gripping her superbly round ass under her skirt the way she was.

Releasing her lips, Blake waveringly exhaled. What was happening? Her mind was fuzzy. She returned her trembling hands conservatively up to the small of her back. "Yang," she managed, her voice strained. "Where are we heading with this…?" she cautiously whispered, attempting to take a hold of herself.

Yang moved closer again, as if she couldn't bear any sort of distance. As her trembling lips brushed Blake's, a short sigh escaped her in a dead giveaway of her yearning. "Anywhere you want to lead me," she quietly answered.

It was like a pulse coursing through her, the faunus came incredibly aware of how desired she felt. The blonde's breathing had gotten incredibly heavy as they kissed and her skin had heated to the point it'd flushed her complexion. Half-lidded violet eyes gazed down at her with hypnotizingly covetous hunger.

It could not be clearer that all Blake had to do was express the desire and she would most definitely be able to have her. Yang would most definitely give herself to her. She would show Blake the most private sides of her, let Blake know her expression with pleasure, the way her voice sounded, the taste of her essence, how it felt _inside_ of her. Blake understood she had the power to take it all.

Her heart was almost tearing out of her chest so hard it was beating and her hands somehow had found their way under her partner's skirt again, caressing the skin of her thighs, of her ass. She wanted everything Yang would allow her to have. She was incredulous Yang may actually allow her it all. "Anywhere…? ...Really?" She confirmed almost inaudibly.

" _Anything_ you want," she eagerly emphasized, gently thrusting her hips again, as if to encourage Blake's already very bold exploration under her skirt.

Without saying another word, her fingers found their way between her blonde partner's legs and she started stroking gently through her underwear. She felt her inhale shakily before Yang moved in to kiss her again, doubling in passion. Her hips faintly followed with Blake's touch and, as she more confidently moved her fingers, feeling her shape and heat through the fabric, she felt Yang smile against her lips.

Blake easily found the faint bump of her sweet spot and Yang wrapped her arms around her neck as she thrust her hips along with the slow rubbing. Blake felt electrified. It didn't take long for her deliberately drawn-out pace to get heated and again it wasn't enough, the faunus wanted even more. Especially since she was now so aware of that spot, just a bit lower, where her fingers sank in a bit… where the wetness had completely seeped through the fabric. The blonde groaned, pushing with her hips, causing her fingers to slightly press the underwear in. Yang's body language screamed for her to dare further, to get on with it, to go there already, and Blake's heart was beating so hard she felt her pulse throughout her whole body. Finding her nerve for a fleeting second was enough; she'd swiftly pushed the underwear aside to sink her fingers in alluringly sultry heat. The throaty moan that Yang gave couldn't be stifled by Blake's mouth on hers and the blonde seemed to dissolve into her, heavy on top of her.

Her fingers were so slick, just moving them slightly produced a wet sound that sent goosebumps down Blake's spine. She was in awe with what was happening, with how aroused Yang manifestly was, with her own genuine pleasure at doing this. Slowly thrusting her fingers, she positively relished in everything about this experience; the warmth and the slickness, the way Yang's hips –no her whole body submitted helplessly to the pace of Blake's fingers, her short breath and the hammering of her heart against Blake's chest… she felt an overpoweringly ferocious, _devastating_ need… as if some basic, primal instinct had suddenly awakened. She pushed her body against hers, faintly thrusting her own hips in cadence with Yang, in rhythm with her fingers, as if she'd been touching herself.

How she _wished_ she'd ripped her uniform off her before they got to this point. She craved her skin against hers but couldn't stop what was happening, she couldn't. She pounded her fingers harder for a thrust, so much deeper, and Yang released her lips this time, groaning shakily in pleasure. Blake kissed her cheek instead only to notice her skin wasn't impossibly smooth anymore. It was getting damp and flushed, and somehow that was even better. Yang panted and her heated thrusting against Blake's fingers hastened, her hands lost in the jet black hair, and Blake wondered how she could ever have been oblivious she held these desires inside of her. They were so utterly all-consuming, they were devouring her. Blake shakily exhaled.

She still wanted more. She wanted to mark her, possess her, she wanted her own skin to smell like her, she wanted to lick every inch of her body, push her tongue inside of her, _god_ , she starved to know her taste.

"Blake," she called quietly. " _Blake_ ," she repeated so urgently, gripping her.

The next moment was almost like she'd stopped breathing for a second and she jerked up, gasping. So completely disoriented, she realized she was firmly clutching her partner's arm.

"Shhh," Yang gently guided her on her back again. "Poor thing, you're sweating," she murmured with concern, bringing her hand to her forehead.

Utterly confused, she docilely lay back down, gaping at her partner with wide eyes. "Yang, wh-what are you…? What are you…?" Now she noticed that Yang sat on the edge of her bed instead of being in bed with her. She was also in her pajamas, not her school uniform. Blake's awareness of her surroundings—the darkness of their shared room, reality- kicked in full force and she finally grasped the situation.

"You were having a nightmare again," Yang explained, gently brushing wet bangs away from her friend's forehead. "I thought it'd be best to wake you."

Unable to get over the shock, her gaze still glued to her partner leaning over her, Blake couldn't find her voice. It wouldn't have been the first time Yang woke her up from a nightmare… had this been one. Nothing short of horrified, she stared into her partner's gentle violet gaze, incapable to will herself to make even the faintest noise.

What the hell _was_ that dream….? It had been so incredibly graphic and vivid, she could still feel everything, _everything_ … down to Yang's burning breath mingling with her own and her wetness on her fingers. Somewhat taking a hold of herself finally let embarrassment kick in, it drove her to break eye contact.

Her friend brushed away one last strand from her forehead before she seemed satisfied and stopped. "Are you okay…? Do you want to tell me about it?"

With shame rapidly chilling her, Blake couldn't even glance her way. She sat up again, too distraught to stay still. Her discomfiture wasn't helped at all by how she could feel Yang's concerned gaze attentively scrutinizing her.

"…Even if you don't want to talk about it, should I stay with you for a bit?"

"No, no," the faunus managed, not without difficulty. She still attempted to regroup herself. "No, Yang, it's fine, I'm fine."

"You don't seem fine," she sternly shot back, succeeding in drawing Blake's gaze for a second. Yang looked alarmed and senselessly beautiful in her disheveled state. "I don't mind staying with you until you're okay to sleep again," she added as she gently reached to her forearm to give it a comforting squeeze.

Impulsively, in a mix of awkward mortification over the state her body was in and over how weird she felt being in her presence after having dreamed of her that way, Blake flinched away from her touch, abruptly making her release her. "I'm okay," she insisted, "go back to bed."

Even only out of the corner of her eye, she could see how her friend was not only stupefied, but also wounded from how she recoiled from her. Blake felt horrible for it.

Yang stared at her in silence for a prolonged moment, her voice was quite gentle when she spoke again. "You know, it's okay to ask for help sometimes. I want to be there for you."

And now, for a second, Blake faltered. She thought again of that night in the bathroom as Yang had dozed off with her head in her lap, the tenderness of that moment and the sheer pleasure it elicited later on as Yang snuggled up to her.

…Was this what she was looking at now…? Was this what she was saying no to? Would she get another opportunity like this one anytime soon? Or ever again?

If Yang stayed with her, would she hold her hand? Would she play with Blake's hair…? Did she intend on sitting by her on the edge of the bed or did she intend on lying with her? …Get under the covers with her? Her mind's eye showed her her golden partner crawling into her space to share her warmth, to protectively hold her against her oh-so inviting curves into the sort of powerful and intimate embrace only she could give. An immediate shiver ran down Blake's spine, releasing an upsurge of heat through her body to remind her of exactly what state she was in.

With this, Blake knew she simply couldn't accept her offer. As alluring as it was, she was far too aroused to even _be_ in her friend's presence, never mind letting her any closer. She wanted her so much closer and both her self-control and her willpower to restrain herself were critically impaired by her state. She didn't trust herself not to abuse Yang's cuddly nature. She would absolutely find herself taking refuge in her arms, tortured with guilt yet relishing in the feeling of her body, in the smell of her skin. And Yang would be letting her be a disgusting creep, thinking Blake needed to be comforted after a terrifying nightmare. The very idea of abusing her partner's trust sickened her. Her gaze wandered back to the violet gems still on her. "Go back to your bed. I'm fine."

Disappointment couldn't be more obvious on her features. Worse, there even was a tinge of hurt in her gaze. Blake could only attribute this to how it probably looked to Yang like she was refusing to open up to her _yet again_. And Blake's heart sank to the bottom of her stomach because she _so_ wished to be able to go back on this decision. She _so_ wished to have been able to tell her she changed her mind, to tell her to stay, to tell her she'd tell her everything! …But how was she supposed to tell her about _this_ …? An erotic dream about her? …No, her golden partner could never, _ever_ even have suspicions about this.

"Okay," Yang exhaled, very reluctantly standing up. Her eyes were unwaveringly on the faunus and she stood there motionless as if waiting for her to change her mind, inadvertently giving Blake a proper reminder of just how much skin her skimpy pajamas get-up exposed. Her pale skin in the darkness of the room seemed to be almost glowing thanks to the very faint moonlight the stitched curtains let in and Blake knew she was devouring it with her eyes.

She shamefully forced her gaze to her own hands clutching her bedcovers instead. "Sorry if my agitation woke you up," she muttered in hopes of wrapping up the conversation and have her friend move on.

"You didn't wake me up, I needed to get some water," she answered, still unintentionally prolonging her partner's ordeal. "So don't worry about it."

Blake nodded once, huddling back under her duvet and turning her back to her.

There was a long pause before Yang finally moved. "Good night?" she then tentatively offered, about to climb back to her bed.

"…'Night."

With an almost inaudible sigh, the brawler finally went back to her bunk. As she shuffled in her bed above her head, getting comfortable, Blake pressed her hands over her mouth, curling under her covers. She didn't quite know herself if it was a scream or a sob she needed to muffle, but with so many emotions surging forward, it could've been anyone's guess.

She hated herself for feeling the way she did, for having a dream like this, for fantasizing about her friend this way. She hated that she wasn't able to open up to her. She hated that Yang didn't cover her body more. She just – she hated _everything_ about what had just gone down. And yet images of her dream and its sensations were still so vivid, they possessed her entire being and all she could think of is that she _needed_ for Yang to come down again and take her in her arms. She craved to feel her warmth against hers. She wanted to have the opportunity to notice new things about her body, because surely, with such little fabric preserving her modesty in those pajamas, with such little fabric on her, Blake would've gotten to experience _more_.

She released a deep and long, silent exhalation, slowly repossessing herself. Any doubts that could have lingered about her sexuality were definitely gone up in smoke. Even through her panicked near-meltdown of self-loathing, the thought of the other woman, of that dream, _still_ had her inconceivably turned on. She could only wonder how it was possible to be _this_ torn by radically opposite emotions and sensations. It almost felt like a cruel joke was being played on her.

Her gaze was fixated on the empty bed across her. Weiss was away for the weekend; there was a pompous event on the outskirts of Vale that _required_ Schnee presence and, as the sole Schnee available, on top of already being in the area _and_ her family's heir, she had been not so subtly informed it was mandatory for her to make act of presence. Though said event didn't actually _need_ her, though she wouldn't be doing much more than showing her face there, and though she loathed to be going at all, her father had _still_ required her to go. The white haired lady subsequently subjected all of them to a long rant about how she should stop answering his calls as she nevertheless packed her bags.

This had been the first time in over a year that Weiss had been away and so, with her unavailable for the whole weekend, Ruby had turned to her sister for entertainment. Though Blake usually spent her weekends with Yang, it wasn't unusual that the blonde would be unavailable; after all, the two siblings would typically spend the first weekend of the month together back home. Blake would mostly spend that time with Weiss or reading. Sometimes with Sun, whenever he set his mind to seek her out, and if she felt patient that day. But most of the time, she was with Yang. Even in instances when they did nothing, they did nothing together. And the faunus, in all honesty, adored those quiet moments with her above all. Her friend's warmth and radiating positivity had a way of recharging Blake's batteries.

Yet the unplanned deprivation of her partner's company for the entire weekend had highly aggravated her. As a result, she couldn't seem to find a book she enjoyed, she'd go through one volume after the other only to toss them all to the side after a couple of chapters. Moreover, with Weiss away, there was no one she felt comfortable complaining to. Sun only annoyed her more and she found herself avoiding every and all social interactions with anyone she knew.

Blake had spent the last two days virtually alone. Of course, the two siblings had invited her to every single one of their activities- the videogames, the sparring, the dog-sitting, even their upcoming trip to the city. But Blake hadn't wanted to feel like a third wheel; close as they were, the sisters had their own dynamic and Blake felt she threw it off balance.

So she'd watched them get ready and go about their day, dropping back in once in a while and exchanging but a few words with her before being off again for the last forty-eight hours and counting. It felt foreign to be around a Yang who was almost… disinterested in her.

Blake sighed quietly. Was that why she had that dream…? Because this unusual apparent disinterest from her partner bothered her…? Because she… _needed_ her attention?

She turned on her back, much too distraught to go back to sleep.

Blonde curls caught her attention as they slowly glided down on the side of the top bunk and, as the mass only seemed to get bigger, Blake realized her friend was poking her head down the side of the mattress. Finally, her gorgeous violet gems peered at her through the darkness. They stared at each other for a second.

"It'd make me feel better if there was something I could do for you," Yang announced.

Of course, Blake thought of a million disgustingly inappropriate things which Yang would definitely be appalled with. It was another moment before she answered her. "There's nothing you can do, Yang."

Not budging, she kept staring at her. "That was a long pause right there," she noted.

"What are you trying to say?"

"That you thought of something and decided not to tell me."

Having no retort for her, Blake could do nothing but lie still, her eyes unmoving from her partner's.

Yang stared back at her, the skin of her face reddening slightly from being upside down. It didn't fit at all her serious attitude. "If you're thinking along the lines of you don't want to be burdening me, you're not. You're a priority to me, Blake."

Being told this speared through her; through the admittedly puerile loneliness she'd been experiencing that weekend, through the increasingly evident yearning she felt for her and the distress it brought with it, through the staggering, _aching_ desire her dream had brought to the surface. She wanted nothing more than to take refuge in her arms and Blake felt her mostly impassive mask fissure. It lasted no more than a heartbeat and yet it was evident that Yang saw thought that brief vacillation.

Her ever more reddening face somehow still communicated gentleness and concern. "I just want to stay with you for a while. It'd make me feel better if you'd let me."

And how could she keep denying her when she agonized to feel her warmth? Blake exhaled quietly, defeated. "…Okay."

With no hesitation, Yang let herself slip down, flipping her body adroitly mid-air and landing noiselessly on her feet. She looked down at her with that ridiculously radiant smile of hers, evidently delighted that Blake had given in to her bid to offer moral support, and Blake could only wonder by what miracle she had managed to get this unbelievably amazing young woman to genuinely care this much about her.

Yang swiftly moved in and grabbed the duvet, about to get in bed with her, when Blake instantly tugged out of her grip and awkwardly huddled tightly around herself. The blonde paused, puzzled.

The dark haired faunus uncomfortably avoided eye contact, gawkily gathering her bedcovers even snugger. "I'm sweaty. It's gross."

"What? I don't mind that," she unconcernedly countered, reaching for the covers again.

Blake firmly held them to herself. "I'm sweaty already, it'll be way too hot with two of us."

"Hmm," she skeptically groused, very blatantly staring at the way she burrowed herself in her duvet in spite of claiming to be uncomfortably hot. Yang nevertheless seemed to decide it was unimportant and opted to plop on her bed, sitting with her back leaning against the headboard. She then patted her lap.

Blake's wary gaze slid from her alluringly naked thighs up to her friend's enthusiastic expression. "…What?"

"Well, lie your head down in my lap," she instructed.

This confirmed what she'd dreaded. "No."

"But I wanna pet—" Yang paused, her expression abruptly going blank. "Or it… Sorry, it's—… Is it maybe… not okay?"

Her very uncharacteristic hesitation now stumped Blake. "What?"

She vacantly stared down at her for an interminable second before she dared expand on what gave her pause. "Is it… _offensive_ … that I want to pet your hair?"

Blake frowned curiously, still not following. "You let me pet yours, didn't you?"

"Yeah but," she sheepishly glanced down to her lap. "…Because you're a faunus, Blake."

Realization was a light bulb moment. "Oh! No, it's fine!"

Yang looked incredibly relieved she hadn't inadvertently gone somewhere she shouldn't; her enthusiasm returned. "So it's fine, right?" She patted her lap again.

Blake's eyes were on her deliciously naked thighs before they darted back up yet again to lock gazes with her friend. "It's fine if you pet my hair, but I'm not doing that." The blonde gave her a dejected pout but Blake just dropped her head back on her pillow. "What if I fall asleep? Then you'd need to wake me up to get back to your bed," she pointed out. It was by no means the primary reason she refused, but it was nevertheless a good enough excuse that her partner's air changed from moping to understanding.

Her hand softly rested on the top of her head and, unexpectedly, Yang paused again before she took back her hand. "Are your ears off limits?"

Blake shrugged. "They're sensitive," she non-commitedly offered.

After a long silence and her hand still sort of hovering above her head, her partner inquired again. "Sensitive? …like, in what way?"

The dark haired faunus closed her eyes, already too tired, too confused and too tense with the rollercoaster of emotions to try and decipher any more of her friend's strange apprehensions. "I don't know what you're asking," she plainly gave.

"It's not okay if I touch them?" Yang then presumed.

"I didn't say that."

There was yet another pause. "So… They're _not_ off limits?"

Her eyebrows now twitched into a light frown, Blake refused to indulge this any longer. She was pretty certain she understood what it was about anyways. "…Yang, if you _want_ to touch my ears, come out and say it."

"It'd be okay? I mean, it's not weird if I want to?" She fretfully questioned back.

Aggravated that cutting the chase did nothing to help with her partner's unusual timidity regarding personal space, Blake finally turned just enough to be able to give her a perplexed look. "You never ask before grabbing me, hugging me or anything of the sort," she pointed out.

"It's not the same," Yang awkwardly argued back. "I mean, I don't know the etiquette about faunus… stuff," she admitted. "I don't have ears, or a tail, or horns so… I mean, I don't know whether it's rude or if it just doesn't matter. I mean, in the way that it doesn't matter if I touch your shoulder but it's inappropriate if I touch your butt. I don't know how _okay_ it is to touch faunus features, or even just ask to touch them."

It had never crossed her mind that this wasn't something a human would intuitively know or understand. Her being a faunus was rarely ever addressed with the team as it had become so inconsequential, but on the flip side, it also had her forget her friends wouldn't share the same rudimentary wisdom about their species' differences. "I guess it's on the same level of intimacy as holding hands," Blake offered with a much more empathetic disposition. "Strangers shouldn't, but it's not inappropriate with family or good friends," she explained.

Suddenly imbued with renewed excitement, Yang stared down at her. "So I _can_?"

It wasn't without some dread that she answered: "…Yes."

Immediately, Yang's fingers very delicately glided along one of her cat ears. It twitched reflexively but the blonde still proceeded with thoroughly fondling it. "Oh my god," she whispered in gleeful awe. "They're so soft!" She sounded nearly choked up with emotion.

Her candid amazement was adorable and Blake couldn't suppress her smile. Additionally, though her partner was very gentle and very careful, it was still an odd feeling to get her ears felt up this way. She couldn't even remember the last time anyone other than her mother had touched them.

A budding strain in her neck from being twisted up to look up at her compelled her to nestle back into her pillow, allowing her to come aware again of how close Yang's naked thigh was to her face. It served to remind her how frustratingly riled up she was and she opted to close her eyes again. "…How long have you been wanting to do this, Yang?"

"Since day one," she answered without any hesitation. "Well. Since the first time you went around without a bow and I was able to see them would be more like it."

Blake sighed contently as the hand drifted to more evenly massage her head instead of just focusing on her ears. "You could've said it," she indicated.

"But I didn't know if maybe it was disrespectful," she reminded her.

With an almost imperceptible nod, Blake hummed gently to acknowledge her point. Yang's fingers playing with her ears and drifting in her hair and massaging her scalp felt _so_ criminally good. Being this close to her also relentlessly filled her senses with her so very unique and comforting scent, which only made the experience more sublime. Blake had to take a hold of herself so she wouldn't start purring. There was _no way_ she could let her partner know about this, the teasing would never stop.

She nevertheless leaned into her touch, or rather, she entirely leaned towards her and, though she'd refused to lay her head in her lap, the faunus now found herself drawn close enough to lean her forehead against the side of her upper thigh, against the fabric of her shorts. The brawler seemed to be encouraged by this and just invested more effort into her caresses. Blake was incredibly thankful her friend had insisted because this not only was blissful on every single level, it unexpectedly helped lull the raging storm of conflicting emotions she'd been experiencing. It felt like she was going brain-dead with comfort and that was _great_. The blonde was _really_ good at this.

It was such a lengthy spell of silence that hearing Yang almost surprised her. "Hey, Blake…?"

"Hmm?"

Yang paused her petting for a second, the tone of her voice was unbelievably gentle as she addressed her again. "You know, whatever's haunting you, you don't need to try and carry it all yourself."

Between that shameful dream she absolutely couldn't share and an ugly past she felt too tired to dredge up, Blake decide to settle on an answer that applied to both. "My sins shouldn't be anyone else's burden," she quietly commented.

"Your _sins_ …" she repeated, stressing the heaviness of the word.

"I won't pretend that's not what they are," the faunus murmured in response.

The blonde gave a sigh, contemplating in silence for a while again. She then tucked stray dark locks of hair behind a human ear, which, though her eyes had remained closed, still made it obvious to Blake that her friend was observing her face. "Blake, you remember when you said that your semblance was just like… how you run away from things?"

It was easy to tell from the awkward pause that her partner didn't like citing this, but the faunus still acquiesced with a faint nod. These _were_ her own words after all… and she did believe them to be true.

"Well, then," Yang started again, "if you want to make our semblances about our personalities… I take on pain and make it into strength," she pointed out. "…I can help you if you just _let me_."

Her earnest plea had Blake's heart feel like it inflated in her chest to a painful extent. It moved her that the other woman cared enough to endlessly keep trying, even if it was grueling to have to keep fending her off. Blake pressed her forehead more noticeably against the side of her leg. "Your presence is enough."

"…You _sure_?"

She hummed quietly in approval and felt her friend's hand finally return to her hair, gently furrowing through it. Blake relished in the loving attention, she savored every stroke of her fingers and she willed herself to burn everything about this moment in her memory. "You're already doing more than you know," she admitted. "I don't need anything else."

"So as long as you have me, you're fine?" Her tone now betrayed a smile.

Blake knew she was teasing her but nevertheless decided to indulge her. "You got it," she tiredly waived, at last glancing up her way.

Yang seemed taken aback, probably because Blake only rarely spun her banter to play along instead of shooting it down; she stared down at her blankly for a second. "Don't get my hopes up like that."

Her heart jumped in her chest, Blake froze for a second. Hopes? What… _hopes_? No, no, Yang couldn't mean it that way, _of course_ not. It was everything she could to talk herself down quickly and it was arduous for Blake to articulate any for answer. "…I don't understand," she evenly managed.

"I mean letting me think you may be letting me in a bit, when you really won't," she accused glumly.

Though she'd pertinently known her friend _couldn't_ have meant it the way it might have sounded, something that had come alive as her heart rate had jumped now had been brutally extinguished. Feeling utterly foolish to feel defeated over this, she exhaled heavily, dropping her head back on her pillow. As if it wasn't enough that she had her own internal struggle to deal with, Yang was again trying to pry and now Blake had to _again_ find the strength to erect a wall. Had she looked so distraught that Yang couldn't leave it alone? "No pressure, huh?" she commented.

"That's not wh—" The blonde stopped herself, likely realizing that insisting the way she had been truly could be perceived as pressure. "I'm sorry, Blake," she softly offered. "I don't mean to make it harder on you. I just…I want to be there for you and I'm feeling a little helpless."

She lightly shook her head. "It's fine," she gave. "…Thank you. For caring this much."

"You don't need to thank me for that," Yang murmured as her fingers returned to her hair, so carefully disentangling her curls, so cautiously tracing into the fur of her ears.

It was incredibly pleasant. Never in the past with any of her friends did Blake share intimate moments like the ones she'd occasionally share with Yang, and surely nothing like what was happening now. The tenderness of the present moment was unlike anything she'd shared with _anyone_ before and she could only hope her friend would come to understand how unlike her it was to let someone be so intimate with her. Blake _was_ letting her in…! Much more than Yang seemed to understand and certainly _much_ more than Blake would've liked. It was in spite of herself that she found herself relying on her so, taking refuge in her warmth this way.

Her body was relaxing with the drowsiness taking over, her head leaning a bit more heavily to her friend's leg let her notice that, though her forehead was against the fabric of her pajama shorts, her nose grazed the skin of her leg. The thought of kissing that skin filled her whole being. It was _just there_ , so close, at her mercy, and the temptation was irresistible. It was probably that her mind was muddled by the comfort and lethargy, or it was the intimacy of the moment that rendered her this utterly foolish, but Blake leaned imperceptibly, just enough so not only her nose but her lips too brushed her skin.

The hand in her hair twitched and paused.

Blake willed her breathing to be as faint and slow as she could muster, hoping Yang would presume the contact was nothing more than her nodding off. And indeed, it took another moment, but the caresses in her hair very slowly and carefully resumed.

Yang indefatigably kept at it for an impressively long time, much too long after Blake had pretended to have fallen asleep for this to have been solely for Blake's sake. The way she caressed her head, gently traced with her ears or massaged her scalp was too absorbedly conscientious and too deliberately careful for her not to have been doing this for her own entertainment. The faunus didn't mind a single second, in fact, when her friend seemed to decide Blake was deeply asleep and it was enough, when she decided to go back to her own bed, it left the dark haired faunus with an achingly gaping emptiness beside her.

Blake had never realized before then how much she wanted her warmth beside her, how much she longed to be able to take refuge in her arms in the comfort of her bed, and though she'd been lulled by her friend's attentions not even a moment ago, it still took her an unfairly long time before she fell asleep again. 

* * *

That Sunday passed as slowly as the rest of the weekend did.

Yang had tried to persuade her to go to the city with Ruby and she, but Blake courteously declined. Not only had she pointed out that Bumblebee couldn't carry three passengers, she had also made a point of convincing the brawler that she had other things to do anyways. Of course, she had a glaring _nothing_ on her schedule, but that wasn't the issue. Blake wasn't about to let her partner feel responsible for her, at least not on account of feeling guilty for leaving her by herself and even _less_ if Yang worried about her because of the previous night. It would've made her feel horrible were her friend to disrupt her plans with her sister for what she still believed was a _nightmare_ Blake had. Just the thought of it had Blake's stomach turn. She couldn't have Yang worry for her, not over a lie, not when what hid behind it was in truth so revolting.

In the end, it was a long, uneventful day of avoiding everyone she knew. Even the library didn't offer much solace; not only did Sun manage to find her, but no novel caught her attention enough to entertain her. It didn't prevent her from checking out a couple of books anyways, telling herself she may change her mind about them in a few days when not everything in existence peeved her so. With this, she'd then fended off the monkey faunus and quickly fled back to her empty dorm room.

Well. Not empty per se; the utter mess served to remind her just how much _stuff_ they owned.

Abandoning her books on her desk, Blake only then seemed to come aware of what state their shared room was in. How had she failed to notice the mess as it was being made? Had she been this wrapped up with herself? Was this how they behaved when they weren't under Weiss's watchful eye? It had only been a few days! How was there so much clothing lying around anywa—as she asked herself this, images of the sisters trying to decide on what to wear every day flashed through her mind.

…How many times had the two siblings changed? She looked around the room. Were these all clean? Was this the product of trying on multiple outfits before deciding on one? …They'd left everything out lying around? Unworn, _clean_ clothing? Her eyes again travelled around the mess; no, she remembered seeing Ruby wear that top two days ago. And that was Yang's pajamas. And… this other pile was her _own_ school uniform. Blake sighed to herself. This mess was _all_ of their doing –but mostly the sibling's— _and_ it a mix of clean and dirty. The one saving grace was that, thankfully, clothing was the bulk of the chaos and it could be tidied up in no time. Which, glancing at the clock, they didn't have much of before the heiress would be back.

And so, between not knowing when Yang and Ruby would show themselves again and being so very bored, she decided to take it upon herself to deal with the mayhem.

Blake first took care of the few items that were hers- her clothing, her books, her homework- before directing her attention to the bulk of the clutter. The logical point to start with concerning the rest of her teammates' stuff of course was the clothes, but the idea of starting to sort out first by person but also clean from unclean for her teammates sparked a bit of irritation; she decided to simply dump everything in the same hamper. If it wasn't dirty, then too bad, it was their own fault after all for leaving everything lying around. Maybe it'd teach them to put away their belongings properly. Not to mention, why should she sort Ruby's from Yang's? It wasn't like Yang didn't regularly do all her baby sister's laundry anyways, she couldn't help coddling her still when it came to things like this, so what use would there be to sort them?

Blake indiscriminately gathered all garments, throwing them into Ruby's hamper which she'd chosen because it was larger, and their room quickly started looking markedly more presentable. She was pretty much done when she grabbed a pile of humid towels not too far from the bathroom, she guess they'd been used a few hours ago, and uncovered obviously used gym wear.

It unexpectedly brought her a hesitant stop.

Still visibly damp with sweat, the bunched up small pile comprised an orange tank top, ridiculously short yellow and black sports shorts, socks, and maybe – she couldn't see from the way they were piled up— a sports bra and underwear. From the look of them, they couldn't have been anyone else's than her partner… though Blake wouldn't have needed to _see_ them to know they were Yang's. The garments didn't stink, but she could tell even from simply standing over them that they very distinctly smelled like her; being a faunus gave her an edge in that regard.

Blake squinted her eyes at the small pile. At first, she was bothered that she even hesitated to touch them, because really, what difference was there between these and everything else she'd gathered until then? Except that what she'd gathered up until then smelled overly of laundry detergent still, unlike those. She then glared at the pile of fabrics, telling herself that… _of course_ she would hesitate, no one would like to touch someone else's dirty, sweaty gym gear, would they?

And now she pursed her lips because… these weren't just anyone else's, these were _Yang's_. It shouldn't have been a big deal because they were her partner's and she'd already gotten her sweat all over herself in hand-to-hand training _multiple times_. So why was she making a big deal about this anyways?

Giving herself a proper mental slap, she picked up the tank top, only to notice the sports bra had indeed been hidden in there. Refusing to let her mind linger on it, she stuffed them in Ruby's hamper and went for the rest. Gathering the shorts and socks in a swift movement had the underwear fall to the ground.

Blake tightened her lips in a bit of a sour expression. She stared at the tiny piece of black fabric that was the blonde bombshell's used underwear. She'd already been aware of Yang's preference for this style of undergarment, the tiniest sort, simply because there never were any panty lines visible through her shorts. Not that Blake specifically _looked_ , she just happened to notice with time.

Forcing her attention back to the problem at hand—the impertinent little item on the floor— she decided that, no matter how much she dreaded picking it up, she couldn't just leave it lying there either. Still, there was no way she was directly touching dirty underwear, not even her best friend's, not even—… Blake abruptly shot the thought down as it emerged, but it lingered insistently and completed itself without her consent: Not even being _this_ unbelievingly attracted to her.

…Because she truly was _ridiculously_ attracted to her. By then, no matter how much she loathed that it was true and no matter how much she reviled even simply letting this admission cross her mind, there was no shying from it. After that drunken night when she'd first understood the nature of her undeniable bias concerning her partner, she'd initially tried to blame the alcohol and the markedly emphasized kinship occurring that evening. But as the weeks had gone by, it had become obvious that those desires were in fact _very m_ uch part of her and that Yang _did_ indeed… have that sort of effect on her. In fact, Yang was all she could think of lately and that dream was only exceedingly explicit evidence of it.

Blake wasn't happy with all this. She _really_ would've wished to regard her team as a second family, _all_ of her team, and as it'd been originally formed she'd been extremely relieved that her team was an all-girl one. She thought it would prevent complex feelings from sowing discord between them, from breaking their unity… yet _she_ was the one threatening to complicate matters, obsessing the way she was over someone she'd selected _herself_ on the assumption of making a prudent choice. It was laughable. And also stupidly upsetting.

 _Vastly_ more upsetting than the tiny undergarment still on the floor which _somehow_ managed to aggravate Blake simply by existing.

Still set on not touching it, she fished the gym shorts back out of the hamper, dug her hand into the fabric and used them to pick up the minuscule black thing. With it in her hand, she unexpectedly paused; it looked an awful lot like something she would wear herself. She wondered what Yang would think should she learn that their scarves and shorts weren't the only thing about their outfits that matched?

Although, for all she knew, Yang may already be aware of that. Not that Blake left her underwear lying around, but it wasn't unlikely that her partner may have come across it over months of living together. She wondered if that'd amuse her, or if maybe… if maybe, coming across it, Yang might picture her in it.

The idea of Yang imagining her clad in nothing but her black lingerie made Blake gulp audibly. It also brought an alarmingly pervading heat in her skin and she chose to halt her tangling thought process before it unreeled too far into the already disturbing mess that it was. Blake dropped everything in Ruby's hamper, which she then abandoned in a corner of the room, opting to stubbornly ignore the small voice at the back of her head telling her she was only delaying the inevitable by choosing to avert her eyes instead of taking an honest look at where her mind wanted to take her.

It was everything she could do to shake herself back into gear, turning again to the pressing need to finish tidying up the room before their fourth teammate made it back.

As she'd originally assessed, once the masses of clothing were removed, there was scarce left to do. She went about, putting away Ruby's tool kit and the spare pieces she'd swapped out of Crescent Rose, picking up discarded school supplies and magazines. The lingering warmth however wasn't leaving her body, relentlessly nagging at her. Along with it, the very strong impression that she could still perceive the distinctive scent of her partner just wouldn't leave her alone. And she swiftly decided that it was probably in the air, in the room, that she was simply being overly sensitive to it for stupid and meaningless reasons.

Blake swiped cookie crumbs and threw away candy wrappers. She wondered if maybe she felt so exceedingly aware because of how self-conscious she'd been around this whole ordeal, after all it _had_ to be her imagination that the smell lingered this way. She put away make-up and hair products she'd watched the tall blonde use hundreds of times. She collected dog toys spread out through the room. She restlessly busied herself to distract herself from the impression that the faint scent of her partner's dirty clothing clung to her.

It almost felt like she was going crazy. Blake rubbed the back of her neck in an attempt to relax herself and only with this did realization slowly creep into her. Hesitantly, she brought her hand from her neck to her nose instead. It was faded and a bit elusive, but between how on-edge and thin-skinned she'd been and her faunus sense of smell… she could pick it up _exceptionally_ distinctly. The gym gear had been damp, and so, the scent of Yang's body had in fact lingered on Blake's fingers.

It absolutely cleared up why it felt like it had been following her, why she couldn't seem to shake it from her mind. The warmth that had been coursing through her veins flared, shooting her blood's temperature to _boiling_. She despaired for it not to be the cause, but she grasped all too well that it was; the smell indisputably wasn't _just_ of her skin. It was salty, slightly musky… intimate. And intoxicating. Blake hadn't paid attention to what part of the shorts she'd used to cover her hand with a few minutes ago to pick up her underwear, but it had to have been the part of the fabric that covered the crotch area.

Her body was on fire. Shaken, she leaned back against her desk. She strained to oust images she should never have pictured of her best friend, yet her mind _insisted_ on reminding her that the smell lingering on her fingers would undoubtedly resemble what Yang would smell like during sex. It was like her very brain had at once been entirely rewired and, against her will or better judgment, her mind's eye was _flooded_ with vivid images from that dream while her body conjured up dizzying sensations. Her senses filled to the brim with what should never even have crossed her mind; Yang's weight trapping her, her lips searching for hers, the heaving of her breath against her mouth, the slick feeling on her fingers… Blake was so subjugated she couldn't even breathe.

In appalled shock at what sheer power something so insignificant had over her, at how viscerally it gripped her to her very core, she struggled to take a hold of herself, trying her very best to shake off this terrifyingly savage _need_. And yet her eyes, until then stuck to the carpet, shamefully wandered towards the hamper she'd left in a corner of the room. The very fact that she had the impulse to do so disgusted her. Why did she look over to it again? It's not like she was going to fish out her friend's dirty clothing to get a better whiff! She'd already inadvertently intruded on Yang's privacy by briefly sampling her scent, if she were to repeat the offence _deliberately_ … it would not only be disturbingly intrusive, but also unbelievably disrespectful. Not to mention, she already felt enough of a degenerate as it was. Would Yang just as much have _doubts_ about any of this, she'd undoubtedly be revolted. And were she to even forgive Blake, she'd likely never trust her again.

And yet… her fingers, which had been tightly clutching the edge of the wooden desk she was leaning on, were again brushing lightly under the tip of her nose. The scent left on them brought flashes of heat along with the awareness that fingering her the way she saw herself do in that dream would've left this _exact_ smell on her fingers. Goosebumps overran her body to leave her utterly powerless. It was terrifying how much she lusted, how staggeringly unambiguous and powerful were her desires. Everything about the shape of her friend's body—the ever-exposed flesh of those thighs Blake wanted to sink her teeth in, those plump breasts she wanted to dig her fingers in, the lines of her tight core she wanted to trace with her tongue— _everything_ appealed to something beastly deep within her, and Blake wanted so much it hurt. It hurt deep in her chest cavity to a suffocating point, it hurt in the pit of her stomach to a sickening point, it hurt in her weakened limbs to a debilitating point, and it even hurt down to an uncomfortable stinging in the tip of her seemingly numb fingers.

Her eyes darted to the hamper again and she hated herself for even looking over to it again. She felt like a depraved, sick pervert and yet still, all she could think of was she needed more, _anything_ more as long as it was more of her. It was engulfing her entirely to a point where it felt like she was losing sight of herself and Blake felt the tears welling up in her eyes. She wasn't recognizing herself. It felt like she was going mad.

For a short second, she almost believed she indeed had gone mad as she thought she could hear Yang's voice. But she _definitely_ could hear it, and Ruby's too, as it became clear that the loud siblings were making their way down the hall. Blake shut her eyes tightly and breathed deeply. It was her best effort to take any sort of hold of herself as she listened to her teammates approaching their room.

"We're hoooome!" Ruby exclaimed, bursting through the door with her sister on her tail. The short haired girl bounced in with the energy only someone who ran on sugar had. "Oh! Blake, you tidied up?"

She somehow coerced her gaze to stay on the team leader; she felt nowhere near solid enough to dare let it drift to the tall blonde. "Weiss will be back any time now," she dully offered. "Tidying was a small sacrifice compared to what we would've gone through had she come back to the battlefield this room had become."

"Sorry," Ruby sheepishly offered. "We really intended on cleaning up ourselves!"

"I didn't mind doing it," she droned, obstinately focusing her attention on the red cape.

"We would've done it, you really didn't have to," Yang pitched in.

Though her voice drew Blake's undivided attention, she still resisted looking her way. "It's too late now," she flatly retorted.

It was in spite of her best efforts that her dire attempt at regaining control of herself manifested into an apathetic and unreceptive demeanor. It undoubtedly was extremely obvious that something wasn't right because Yang then gently asked: "…Blake, are you upset?"

"Upset?" She repeated, forgetting she'd been focusing her best efforts into _not_ looking at her. "No I'm—" Her breath caught in her throat as she met her partner's gaze for a second. She felt her entire body flush with a surge of heat and Blake _couldn't_ look at her face. She instead found an interest in the carpet. "I'm okay. Sorry. My mind is elsewhere."

"I know what'll cheer you up," Ruby shot before she quickly started shuffling around one of the plastic bags she was carrying. A second later, she produced a small carton and held it up with pride. "Ice cream!"

Blake couldn't even muster a smile at her enthusiasm. "I don't want any, thank you."

"But we brought it all the way here," she pouted, extending her arm towards her to emphasize that she should take it.

The faunus wasn't tempted any further. "You can have it."

"Blake, it's for _you_ ," Yang interjected as she swept the thing from her sister's hand and advanced towards her. Her voice had again drawn Blake's gaze to her in spite of her best efforts. This time she couldn't detach it from her partner's silhouette, not with how outrageously sexy Yang was in those short shorts and thigh-high socks. How was it legal for her to go around like that? That unnervingly cocky grin gradually stretching her features only made matters worse. "I bought it because it had your name on it," Yang declared.

Blake directed all her efforts to keeping an impassive front. She had the suspicion her friend was attempting to spoil her because of the previous night. "Did it now," she dryly rejoined, unconvinced. She didn't fail to notice how those tight shorts exposed no panty lines. Yang was likely wearing something similar as what she'd tossed away in Ruby's hamper.

"It did," Yang insisted, now standing in front of her with the small carton.

Golden orbs managed to conservatively settle on her friend's features; at this distance the ogling would've been disturbingly obvious. Though Blake wasn't entirely convinced she wasn't gawking at her gorgeous features either.

Her fiery partner seemed unruffled by her persistent staring. "A while ago, Ruby spotted an advertisement for a café that makes specialty ice cream," she started, perching herself on the desk Blake had been leaning on and bumping her with her hip as she did so.

Her arm was now around Blake's shoulders and her feet dangled in the air. Blake was hit with the scent of her golden hair and all she could think of was what she'd smelled off her fingers minutes earlier. She prayed her poker face withstood the hurricane within her.

"So _of course_ , now that we finally had the chance, we made sure to drop by," Yang continued, conspicuously leaning into her. "As we're picking out flavors for ourselves, what do I see?" She made a show of pointing out the label on the fancy looking single-serving container of ice cream she presented to her. "Earl Grey and honey," Yang revealed, her grin somehow stretching further across her face.

Blake stared at the frozen treat, startled enough with how uniquely on point the flavor was that it shook off some of her discomfort. _Touché_ , that thing _did_ have her name on it. Blake pursed her lips, plucking it from her partner's hand. "…I'll have it," she surrendered.

She didn't have to glance her way to know Yang had that unnervingly smug look on her face. Blake busied herself with breaking the ice dust seal that kept the ice-cream cold and removing the lid. There was a tiny spoon on the bottom of it which she detached before discarding it.

The whole affair lifted her mood like she would never have expected and it thoroughly embarrassed her. But there was no denying she adored the attention –the treat, the fact that Yang thought of her and got it for her, and also the current demonstration of interest from her friend, _all_ of it— and of course… she had to admit she also guiltily savored the physical closeness. Yang's arm around her and her body leaning to her seemed to alleviate a lot of the weekend's mounding irritation. It unquestionably made her feel _much_ better, lighter. Why was it that just being in her presence made everything… brighter?

Her first taste of this unique flavor had her eyes flutter shut so divine it was and Blake hummed gently in pleasure.

"So you like it?" Yang observed, amusement plain and clear in her voice. "Can I—"

The door swinging open interrupted her; everyone's attention turned to their missing teammate making her entrance.

"Weiss!" Ruby cried dramatically, ramming into her for a hug.

"Welcome back!" The blonde cheered. "How was it?"

"Can we _not_ talk about it?" She hissed, evidently worn out from her weekend.

"That bad?" Ruby pouted, still not letting go.

"Don't get me started!" The white haired lady huffed. "I knew they were going to be a stuck-up, snobbish, pompous bunch but I'd apparently forgotten how _arrogant_ and _vain_ every single one of these people are," she vented, dragging her appended partner across the room so she could drop her luggage on her bed. "And I had to bite my tongue and _smile_ at them!"

Yang gave a laugh. "Well, Ruby has something that might cheer you up a bit," she indicated, evidently just as much as a reminder to her sister.

With this being pointed out, the blur of red moved through the room and back to her partner in a heartbeat to present her an offering of ice cream. Blake slowly savored her own in silence as she and her golden partner watched the exchange between their two teammates.

Yang leaned closer again, drawing her attention. "What's wrong?" She murmured.

"Do I not look fine?" Blake commented indolently, spoon still in her mouth.

She gave a quiet, vaguely dissenting hum. "…You look…" Yang paused to find the right word, "on edge," she decided. With this, she took another moment to observe her features and Blake in turn made a point of not looking her way. After a moment Yang decided to inquire again. "Is it because of last night?"

 _It's the dream, it's going around in circles the whole weekend, it's your fucking underwear, it's_ —Blake brought her unspoken unreeling outburst to a screeching halt. She had barely recovered from a lustful stupor that'd been so mind-altering it had unshackled her inhibitions enough for her to _actually_ consider fishing out her friend's soiled clothes from the hamper, she was still threading the edge of something she did _not_ want to explore.

"I have things on my mind," Blake plainly said. Her gaze followed the red cape as the girl took care of feeding Zwei. "It's personal," she added. In truth, she was a simply zoning out starting at Ruby, but her partner had to have misinterpreted this as her not being comfortable talking with their other teammates in potential hearing range because Yang leaned _much_ closer to whisper to her.

"We can talk later, alone, if that's better?" Her ridiculously large chest pressed to her arm and her lips brushed her ear.

Blake's heartbeat resonated in her throat, in her whole body. "It's fine," she made herself articulate as evenly as she could. "There's nothing to talk about."

After lingering another second, Yang pulled away. No matter how thankful she was that she did, Blake still hated it. She loathed the distance just as much as she reviled the way she relished so much in any sort of physical contact with her, but she abhorred over all being so torn apart by what she felt. There was a strained silence, an awkward inch of distance between them and Blake made the mistake of glancing over to her. Yang's deflated expression as she contemplatively gazed back at her told everything there was to tell about how disheartened and stung she was to be turned away _again_. The blonde wordlessly returned her gaze to their teammates.

Blake's heart felt compressed in her chest. Rather than enduring her looking so downcast, she decided a white lie couldn't hurt. "It's nothing, I'm on my period," she offered quietly.

They both looked on at the budding chaos as Weiss started to unpack with her partner's and the dog's unsolicited help.

"If you don't want to tell me, it's fine. No need to lie."

"I'm not—"

"Blake," she cut in, turning to her again. "You and I are never off more than a day or two. And I'm not due for at least another ten days," she affirmed, staring straight at her. This was Yang's no-bullshit face; it wasn't accusatory or critical in any way, but it was very unambiguously firm. Blake couldn't hold her gaze, more than a little discomfited at her bluff being called. Yang sighed before addressing her again, more gently. "You hadn't noticed?"

"I'd noticed," Blake confessed very quietly. Neither of them had mentioned it before, but it seemed they were both aware that their biological clocks had synced up. "It… I guess it never crossed my mind you might have noticed too."

"It's hard not to notice the wrappers in the trash when I throw mine away," Yang commented and Blake immediately felt incredibly stupid since after all that was how she'd noticed too. The blonde looked undeniably disheartened and regret gripped Blake deep in her loins again. The violet orbs stayed on the ground. "I'd just… I'd much rather you plainly say that you don't want to tell me instead of coming up with a lie."

Blake stared at her frozen treat in shameful silence, vowing to herself _never_ to lie this way to her again. And though Yang was the one who had all the reasons in the world to sulk, she still was the one to reach out and rub her friend's back soothingly. Blake closed her eyes, exhaling a long breath with comfort.

"The dream I had is… partly responsible for my mood," she heard herself say. Yang turned towards her again in apparent surprise. Blake poked at her ice-cream with her spoon. "It's not the _entire_ reason," she added, "but it did rub my face in something I've been putting off dealing with."

The hand gently massaging her back under jet black hair slowly followed down her spine. They both watched on as Weiss finally got around to open her own little carton of ice-cream. Blake idly wondered what flavor they'd gotten her. "That nightmare, huh," Yang thought out loud.

"It… wasn't a nightmare," the faunus admitted. There was no way Yang would've caught a lie this time around, but having _just_ been so dispiritedly pled to be truthful, Blake couldn't bring herself not to correct her. The blonde blinked rapidly a few times, waiting with an inquiring gaze, which had Blake at once re-evaluated her choice to correct her at all. She hadn't planned on opening up, of course not, but it was too late to take it back now.

"It brought things to the surface and it _did_ trouble me," she acknowledged, watching her friend carefully, "but it wasn't a nightmare," Blake nevertheless reiterated. "It's been… it's something that's been weighing on me. But don't worry, I'll figure it out."

"Talking it out wouldn't help…?"

She shrugged non-committedly. "If you're to insist when I say I don't want to talk about it, I'm going to feel like lying again next time," she pointed out.

Yang made a sort mock wounded expression that still had a sketch of a smile stretch her lips. "Point taken," she conceded.

Blake rolled her eyes and shook her head; she nevertheless found herself smiling too.

A weird feeling on the back of her wrist snatched her attention to notice she'd been so caught up with the conversation that she had not only forgotten her ice cream long enough for the small amount that was in her spoon to melt, but she _also_ hadn't been holding said spoon over her cup and it dribbled down on her wrist. "Ah, crap!" she exclaimed loud enough to draw their other two teammates' attention.

Her partner made it into her personal space faster than she could process and shamelessly used the _entire_ surface of her tongue in an exaggerated lick to swab off the melted treat.

"Oh, it's _really_ good," Yang commented, too engrossed with the flavor she'd manifestly wanted a taste of to notice the very round eyes Blake gave her.

"Gross, Yang!" Her sister called from afar with a grimace.

"It's not gross!" Yang loudly defended. "Blake doesn't mind," she added, turning to her again, "do you Blake?"

Having had a second to get a hold of herself, she'd mustered some composure back. "I sorta minded," she unenthusiastically griped. It wasn't completely untrue because, though she had absolutely no problem with Yang's tongue touching any part of her, she _did_ mind that the blonde kept making it so challenging for her to keep herself in check. "How would _you_ feel if I decided to lick you?"

An unnervingly impish smile split her features. "Depends where you want to lick me?"

Over time, Blake had become largely impervious to her partner's flirty nature and she had the suspicion that not getting a rise out of her anymore was what pushed her friend to be bolder and bolder. This insinuation however… not only was _far_ beyond anything Yang had dared before, it also hit way too close to home. Whatever composed front Blake would've wanted to maintain completely shattered.

The shock in her expression must have been beyond anything she'd demonstrated before because embarrassment with her own words seemed to wash over Yang. She even had the decency to blush. "Don't make that face!" The blonde sheepishly laughed, bouncing to her feet.

But Blake was simply incapable of recovering; she gaped at her in disbelief. And so, apparently unable to assume what she'd just said, Yang decided to go get herself ready for the night. It was another moment before Blake was able to shake herself out of it, shake herself at least enough to finish her ice-cream and start her own night routine anyways.

After getting changed and removing her bow, she was cleansing off her makeup when she heard someone enter the bathroom. Blake, gently rinsing her face, didn't need to glance up to know in whose presence she was; paying attention for no more than a second always let her identify her teammates from the distinctive sound of their footsteps and their personal scents.

Weiss started unpacking the toiletries she'd brought with her during her weekend away. "How was it? Being alone with the sisters wasn't too exhausting?"

Swiftly turning off the water, Blake grabbed a clean washcloth and pressed her face into it. "It was boringly uneventful." Her voice was muffled by the towel. She then discarded it and picked up her toothbrush and toothpaste. "Because you weren't there to take the brunt of her need for attention, Ruby actually hogged Yang all weekend. I had more free time than I knew what to do with," she disclosed, sounding grouchier than she would've wished.

Her friend turned to her, eyebrows quite high. "Is that _resentment_ I hear?"

Blake frowned in response, spitting out some foamy toothpaste. "What?"

Weiss crossed her arms and leaned her hip against the bathroom counter, staring straight at her. "You know, Yang has always and will always spoil her rotten."

Unsure why her teammate was pointing this out, the dark haired faunus held her gaze guardedly. "I know," she allowed.

"So you can't let it bother you if Yang stops paying attention to you for a day or two," she bluntly clarified.

And Blake was abruptly awfully self-conscious; she broke eye contact to resume brushing her teeth. "I don't know what you're talking about," she muttered, becoming aware a little too late of just how obvious her body language was.

The piercingly blue orbs didn't budge from her. Blake hated when Weiss stared the way she did now. Her friend's too frank and uncompromising stare seemed to always demand the same unadorned sincerity out of everyone and, were it not to obtain exactly that, it would seemingly attempt to gouge it out of her interlocutor. "You felt neglected because someone else monopolized your best friend," Weiss insisted, as she evidently wanted to hear her admit it. "But I'm here now. You can get her back."

The heiress's almost arrogant self-assurance irritated her considerably. Or rather, Blake's irritation probably stemmed from the fact that they both knew Weiss was right. "I didn't feel _neglected_ ," she still argued, glancing her way.

It was with some sort of jaded skepticism that she stared back now. "Sure."

She rinsed her mouth. "Don't be like this," the faunus pled, disgruntled.

" _You_ don't be like this," Weiss shot back. "It wasn't a reproach, you're absolutely entitled to your feelings," she affirmed.

Blake wasn't entirely confident that her teammate validated her emotional state for any other reason than having her admit she was right. She stayed silent, reaching for one of her skin products. Deliberately slowly, she squeezed a small quantity on her fingers and applied it to her face.

Weiss gave a deep sigh, she turned her body slightly so instead of leaning her hip to the bathroom counter, she leaned back against it. "I'm… somewhat the same," she acknowledged. "Although I'm not an only child, I never had this sort of warmth or intimacy with any of my siblings. My friendship with Ruby, or even with you and Yang… it's unlike anything I've had before," she explained more gently. When Blake finally turned towards her, she offered her small smile. "What I mean is, I understand if you're a bit possessive of her."

Blake nodded contemplatively. Of course. On her side as well, even back in Menagerie, even back when she'd left and spent all her time with Ilia and Adam, she'd never had the cohesion she now had with her team, let alone the closeness she had with Yang. This kinship was new and she couldn't be blamed if she was still adjusting. She hadn't examined things from this angle. She'd feared the feelings which had bothered her all weekend, ones as preposterous as begrudging her _sibling_ over monopolizing her friend's attention, were an indication of something lurking deeper, but they didn't _have_ to suggest there was anything more either.

Blake chose to dive into the absolving justification Weiss offered her. Yes, she decided. She probably had been fixating too much on all this because she was barely coming to terms with her inclination towards women. Of course, that dream surely didn't help, but _certainly_ … the petty jealousy over being deprived of her best friend's attention didn't _have_ to correlate with her attraction to her. Her feelings could very well stem from elsewhere.

"However," Weiss's voice brought her back to the conversation at hand, "maybe you'll save yourself some disappointment if you got used to the idea that Yang will _always_ give priority to Ruby."

The faunus exhaled a silent breath. "I know that already," she offered. "I don't expect her to give me a second thought would Ruby ever truly need her either," she added, resolving to pay no attention to the tightness in her chest as she said this.

"Stop being so dramatic," she scoffed, standing straight again. "Now put on your normal face because I'm back and Ruby can barely contain herself, so Yang will pay you all the attention you need. And if you walk out of here with that expression," Weiss pointed to her dark haired friend's face, "she'll not only notice, you'll have her on your case for the entire _week_."

Blake scoffed but she couldn't suppress the smile that insisted on emerging; the heiress left her with this, clearly very pleased with herself.

The lights were already off when she exited the bathroom. Even through the darkness she effortlessly made it to her own bed as goodnights were exchanged. Blake lay very still under her bedcovers, staring up at the wooden bed-boards of her partner's bunk. Given the weekend's dire uneventfulness, the inner turmoil she had been grappling with was staggering. Books were usually a great help in avoiding ruminating dark thoughts, but this new problem left her so baffled and unable to focus, she couldn't even find escape in her favorite authors' works.

She almost missed the tormenting guilt and regret that had been tearing her apart since she'd left the White Fang. Not that she _liked_ being tortured over her past choices and actions, but at least she knew how to deal with that. Plus, she certainly deserved it, all the more so knowing that Adam and Ilia were still roaming, perpetuating the cycle of hate, causing unjustified pain and grief. Having ran instead of attempting to stop them certainly put on Blake some part of the blame for their current wrongdoings. All of this only added to the blood already on her hands from the time she blindly followed Adam, _choosing_ to blind herself to the atrocities he committed.

Ruminating all this brought her again to a point where surfacing memories were starting to tear her apart again. The feeling in her gut made her sick and, as she started telling herself how she didn't deserve to be surrounded by the fantastic girls she shared her room with, she realized she was spiraling down again.

Blake sat up in her bed. Over the last months, she'd gotten much better at recognizing when it happened and at stopping herself before her self-loathing got the better of her night. Grabbing her scroll to glance at the time let her approximate her wasted rest time at two hours of twisting and turning. Exhaling quietly, she slipped out of bed to get some water. However trivial of the action was, moving around seemed to air her spirits and helped rupture with her previous mindset. It allowed her to shake off some of the darkness, feel fresher and to be able to give sleep another attempt.

Back in her bed, she resolved not to let her mind wander down that path again. She resolved only to think of inconsequential, pleasant things. Though… the more deliberately one tried to ignore something, the more aware they would inevitably be of that very thing and, in some sort of masochistic streak, her brain only seemed to want to take her down memory lane again and again. By then, she regretted ever thinking this was better than her incongruous longing for her partner and, as she was brought to mull over her desires again, very slowly, inspiration crept into her.

It was probably better not to go there but… there _was_ one thing that was surefire in getting her to sleep. After all, not only did it release a sensation of unwound well-being throughout her body, it also inevitably took her mind to better places.

Blake very slowly caressed the inside of her thigh. She didn't like resorting to this, mostly because there always was a chance of getting caught, but at this point… her need to get any small amount of quality sleep conquered any vestige of hesitation. Her fingers idly outlined her shape through her underwear, unmistakably feeling the fabric grow damp as she kneaded through it, and Blake focused on each of her teammates' faint, drawn out breathing, ensuring they were all sound asleep. She lingered on her partner's, absentmindedly wondering if Yang ever did this sort of thing at night in her bed too, so close to Blake. They were no more than three feet from each other. Blake exhaled hotly, pushing two fingers inside herself. Her half-lidded eyes were on the wooden bed boards above her and she sank deeper into her thick duvet.

She wondered what the blonde would fantasize of whenever she'd do it. She wondered _how_ she did it; if she would slowly caress her body to make it last or if she'd more often just quickly get herself off to get it over with. Ludicrous scenarios of walking in on her, of it leading to _more_ unraveled through her head. She saw herself pinning the other woman down, for Yang to need to be touched so much she'd not only let Blake do it, she'd also weakly submit. She envisioned the want in her eyes and the pleasure in her voice and the need in her hands frantically pulling her closer and Blake shuddered, biting back a moan.

For a second, lucidity nagged that she shouldn't be thinking about her. That if she _needed_ to fantasize of another woman, so be it but… she shouldn't be thinking about _Yang_. It was unhealthy. It would only make matters worse, as well as it may make it more challenging for Blake to act normally around her. And besides, it was repulsive behavior to imagine a friend this way.

But, that dream _haunted_ her. That dream, the intoxicating and intimate scent of her body, her tongue against Blake's hand, her soft lips against Blake's thumb, how the flesh of her thighs looked with her thigh-high socks burrowing in it… and so much more. There was so much to fill her senses to the brim and yet none of it was enough, and she only now realized how slick her fingers were and how dizzy the heat of her skin made her. Her body was impossibly wound-up and hot, and yet it felt like without the right push, she wouldn't be able to get herself past the edge.

Being aware of this brought a need and a fogginess that seemingly had her forget any sort of qualms she might've had. Blake quickly decided that all this was nothing but meaningless fantasizing and that it was fine because they were fleeting thoughts and no one would ever know. Not to mention, she _needed_ release. It didn't matter what brought her there, did it? She justified this to herself, rationalizing that, at the very least in her fantasies, nothing should stand between her and what she wanted. None of her guilt or shame, no silly sense of appropriateness. If she couldn't be free with even her deepest, darkest fantasies, then where _could_ she be free?

That's how she let herself picture the blonde peeking down from her top bunk the way she had the previous night. She saw her come down and invite herself in her bed once more, and Blake would let her under the bedcovers this time. Blake would allow their bodies to come together and would revel in her partner's attentions. Yang would stroke her hair and massage her back as she would sometimes, but… her caresses would then grow bolder. And Yang would kiss her. The simple thought of that kiss made Blake incredibly weak. She imagined her warmth and her breath and the softness of her lips, all of it so discordant with how wolfishly hungrily she'd kiss her, because Yang would certainly do so incredibly ravenously. She would, because she was passionate and intense and she would _want_ voraciously and… Blake's lips wouldn't be enough.

In eagerness, she'd tear at Blake's delicate nightwear in search of skin she had never witnessed before, which she'd then explore with her mouth. Blake could almost conjure what it may feel like as it wandered her body, how the sensation of her lips wrapping themselves around the tip of her breast would send her reeling. What an understatement, the mere _idea_ of Yang doing something like that already sent her reeling.

The accelerating pace of her fingers –in her fevered fantasy, they were Yang's fingers –made her body feel so much hotter, like it was melting. It didn't matter that her fantasy was missing fragments; it was Yang pushing her fingers inside of her because Yang wanted to own every inch of her. Yang wanted to _possess_ her. It was all she could to remain silent, all she could not to shuffle too much, not to draw attention would any of her teammates be sleeping lightly.

The suffocating heat under her thick blanket almost let her delude herself into thinking it may be from the heat of another body. Yang was always so warm. Blake exhaled silently into the duvet, struggling to breathe quietly, wishing she could find some trace of her partner's scent, the pleasant one of her golden mane or the musky one she'd chanced upon that afternoon, it didn't matter.

Her hand dug into her kimono to hurriedly grab a hold of her breast, roughly pinching a nipple—Yang would be rough, wouldn't she? Hasty and impetuous as she was. Blake arched her back slightly, fingering herself faster.

No, Yang was too considerate to hurt her lover, she decided; she massaged her breast a little more tamely. Yang would ardently, _passionately_ take wholly possession of her lover's body, she would exhaust them both and laugh that she did. Blake whimpered quietly, feeling her legs start to tremble. Too many images and sensations came to the surface at once; Yang's thighs around her hips as she straddled her that drunken evening or her ample chest pooling onto her every time she tightly seized her against her perfect body, and again all that was still fresh in her mind because of that weekend; the smell of her and the feeling of her tongue against her wrist and that dream, _in that dream_ , her moaning. Blake felt her body tense, the desire coursing through her veins made even her skin pulse and she held her breath, willing herself to stay silent as the rush of ecstasy washed over her.

As she relaxed, as she found her bearings again, guilt kicked in. In her lust, she'd convinced herself that all that daydreaming was fine, that it didn't have to mean anything, that she was entitled to whatever private thoughts her mind wanted to conjure, but… once the haze that had done such a good job of obscuring her usual levelheadedness dissipated, she ultimately wasn't comfortable with what's she'd done. Not to mention, she was now finding herself face to face with the precise nature of desires she hadn't wanted to explore.

Of course, she'd been acutely aware of how she desired her partner, but Yang being _this_ ridiculously gorgeous… Blake had kept telling herself it wasn't too farfetched that she fancied her if she held any sort of attraction towards women. Which she did, by then she'd accepted at least this much. No, what she _hadn't_ been quite as aware of, what she probably had tried to ignore, was that she desired even _more_ for Yang -not just any beautiful woman- but specifically for _Yang_ to lust for her. She wanted it maybe even more than she wanted her. The concept of Yang harboring those desires for her, of Yang looking at her body this way, of Yang getting aroused from the idea of touching it or even just by the idea of Blake herself… The concept of Yang… _wanting_ to penetrate her with her fingers, with her tongue— sent shivers through her again.

Blake didn't know what to make of this fresh insight. She thought back of what had been said in the bathroom with Weiss, of how she had latched onto the idea that this greediness over her partner's attention wasn't necessarily associated to her attraction to her. But Blake was too tired to try and control her cavaliering train of thoughts, to try and lie to herself, to try and tell herself again that it meant nothing. Because she knew it did. She wanted Yang's undivided attention, she _only_ desired her… _and_ … even more than all of that, she wanted for Yang to want her back. It was easy to grasp what it all culminated to, but Blake refused to let herself linger on it any longer. Anyways, in spite of the dread her new awareness brought, the fatigue that seeped in her bones and muscles as a result of her orgasm already let exhaustion take over; she drifted off without mulling over it any further. 

* * *

What woke her up the following morning was the unpleasant feeling of her face being gripped and squeezed. Her eyes cracked open and, though her vision was still blurred by sleepiness, the heap of blonde unmistakably betrayed her assailant. In a spark of annoyance, Blake swiftly reached up and grabbed her partner's face the same way, silent as she stretched and squeezed her cheeks in response.

Yang laughed. "What are you doing?"

"What are _you_ doing?" She grouchily shot back, quite a bit offended to be questioned when she wasn't the one who had initiated this weird tango.

"You never sleep this late in the morning," Yang defended, as if it explained what she'd been doing. She nevertheless released her grip on her partner's face. "You were so cute, I just couldn't resist," she added, as if that had been a good excuse for the way she'd woken her up.

Which it wasn't. And Blake spitefully took vengeance in stretching her stupid gorgeous face because she deserved it. She especially deserved it because it was her fault Blake had been so lonely.

"Blake!" Yang pled, meekly grabbing her wrists in an attempt to underline her appeal for her to stop.

As she glared at her squished face between her hands, at how absurdly attractive she still was, at how little distance there was between them with the way her blonde partner leaned over her, Blake was seized with the urge to kiss her. It brought images of her dream and more importantly, images of her fantasy which reminded her of what she'd done the night prior, of how stupidly much she wanted her, and how… of course, having fallen asleep right away… how the fingers now effectively pinching her partner's cheeks hadn't been washed since they'd been inside herself. Blake promptly released her grip.

"Thank you for taking pity on me," Yang playfully acknowledged.

Of course, she wasn't about to tell her she released her out of guilt from where her fingers had been, so it was without a word that Blake sat up in her bed. Her friend still didn't move from the edge of it; she stared at the faunus with a bizarrely daunting sort of poorly contained gleeful expression, the sort she would usually have whenever she was about to latch at her, and Blake warily glimpsed her up and down.

"...What?"

Yang's smile widened. "Nothing," she shot, finally getting off her bed to finish getting ready.

Shrugging off her odd behavior, Blake proceeded with her own morning routine. She didn't have much time if she wanted to leave at the same time as her team for breakfast. Though she wasn't hungry at all that morning, she did like the conviviality and typically hectic chattering with their friends.

Yang was still weird throughout the whole meal. The way she kept smiling that oddly knowing and self-satisfied smile was almost ominous.

It was as they walked to class that Blake finally gave in and reached for a small tug on her partner's blazer. Yang's gaze found hers with a not so veiled smile on her features and Blake incited her to slow down her pace until there was proper distance between them and their two teammates walking in front of them.

"What have I missed?"

" _Me_ , I hear, " Yang grinned wider.

Blake stared at her blankly for a second.

"While someone was lazing in bed this morning," the blonde started, fully turning to her, "I heard a story about a cat being lonely over the weekend."

Said cat felt her face start to burn. "Delusion of a birdie who fancies herself a shrewd fox," she heard herself say before she could think twice about her answer.

Her partner paused. "She's a birdie?"

"Little birds sing songs."

"…Clever," Yang whispered, needlessly impressed, and as she got over it, her mood visibly started to deflate, the meaning behind Blake's words sinking in. "So… that 'song' was nothing but a story?"

She gave a sigh; Blake hated that her first instinct was always to erect a wall. She likewise hated to tamper with the golden girl's mood, especially over a lie -which, by the way, she had promised herself just yesterday she wouldn't feed her partner anymore- and especially when that very lie would undeservedly portray Weiss as the liar instead. "What would it change?" She ended up asking.

Understanding that whatever the heiress had told her was indeed true, Yang's demeanor took a distinctly empathetic quality. "You should've hung out with Ruby and I," she gently said.

"I didn't want to intrude on your time together."

"You're never intruding."

Irritation promptly crawled under her skin in a flash. How could the friend not know this much? "It's not the same when it's just Ruby and you," she argued. "When Weiss is there or when other friends are there it's different, but with just you and Ruby, you two have your very own energy. I'm clearly the odd one out."

"No you're not."

" _Yang_ ," she pointedly called, giving her an insistently keen look.

Yang assertively stepped uncomfortably closer and yet, however puzzling and unexpected it was, Blake remained grounded. Both because she symbolically wouldn't back down from her point and because she really enjoyed her being in her bubble this way.

"I love Ruby with all my heart and I would do anything to protect her," Yang declared, as if this needed to be stated at all. Her expression then oddly betrayed just a touch of despondency. "...That includes putting up a mask for her," she quietly added, searching Blake's gaze for… what? Understanding? Blake didn't understand at all where she was going, explaining this. It was only for a second, but the blonde sucked in her lips adorably shyly before she exhaled a short defeated sigh. "I never wanted to let her see me sad or in pain and… she's probably old enough now that I don't need to do that anymore, but… I still can't help myself," Yang then said. "And at this point, I don't know how well she knows me. It's surely not anywhere as close as how well you know me."

Though Blake had to admit she really enjoyed when her partner highlighted their closeness, she still wasn't following as to why she was doing so now. "What does that have to do with it?"

"I'm…" She paused, rubbing the back of her neck under her golden hair. "Remember how I told you after the aura link we did a few weeks ago that… if it wasn't going to happen with you, I don't know how it could happen with anyone else?"

"I remember."

"That includes Ruby, you know?" She pointed out.

Blake stared at her blankly again; she hadn't considered this detail at all.

"So what do you think that means?"

Her very first thought was an embarrassingly corny one. _Soulmates_ , she thought to herself, but it was utterly stupid because she was the only one being weird about their relationship and Yang couldn't possibly mean anything of the sort. Blake's gaze fell on the ground for a second before she looked back up at her unsurely. "That… you feel close to me?"

Yang looked a bit vexed that she showed herself so conservative. "Closer than I ever did with anyone else, Blake, even Ruby," she shot. "Ruby is my sister but I've—… I've had to parent her for the better part of my life, you know? So it's not _quite_ a sisterly bond I have with her. More often than not, rather than being on her level... I'm standing at a distance, watching over her," she explained. "It's _not_ you who's the odd one out," she added.

Was she saying that _Ruby_ was the odd one out? Of course not, right? Her disbelief must've been painfully obvious because her partner quickly continued.

"See, Ruby runs forward without ever looking back. She trusts I'll be there if she needs me, and she's right, I'll stand behind her no matter what," she firmly stated, again, as if Blake needed it spelled out to know. "…But… that's exactly it. I'm _behind_ her." Yang emphasized. "No one sees what's behind them."

It made her incredibly sad to hear this as it served to remind her how, though the wonderful woman standing in front of her projected this indestructible front, she'd been scarred by an almost irrational fear of being discarded, of being left behind. "Don't say that," Blake interjected. "Ruby's not oblivious to you, on the contrary."

Yang shook her head. "That's not what I'm saying," she assured. "It's just that _I_ have always been the one who supported, reassured and protected _her_. And that's never gonna change. Not because she doesn't want to be there for me, but because Ruby can't even recognize when I'm wearing a mask," she explained. " _She_ just doesn't see it."

She was starting to see where her friend was heading. "While I see it," she pointed out.

The blonde scoffed what was almost a laugh. "Not only do you see it, you even know what sort of expression I have behind it!" The tone of her voice was near incredulous, as if Yang couldn't wrap her head around this. She gazed down at her contemplatively for what was probably no more than a few seconds. It nevertheless felt like an eternity to Blake. It almost surprised her to feel her partner's fingers intertwine with hers as Yang continued.

"Blake, you're the only person who's ever actively made me feel valued and worthwhile and _seen_. I keep trying to tell you how precious you are to me, and every time I thought the message came through, I'll later realize it didn't. And it seems like you _still_ don't understand because if you did, I don't know how you could ever think you'd intrude," she gently said, and the fondness, the tenderness in her eyes was so profound Blake wondered just how much love this girl had to give if she was able to look at a simple friend the way she was now. "You're my best friend and I really, _really_ love you," Yang added. "Never be shy to take the space you want, I'll _always_ welcome you."

Her heart didn't only flutter, it lurched forward with a ridiculously powerful impulse to want to hold her. _I love you too_. The words filled her mind and heart and chest and entire body, but again, Blake couldn't bring herself to voice them.

Why did Yang keep doing this? She kept doing this; so naturally and so spontaneously presenting dangerously sweet words, which were only made more disconcerting by how genuine and heartfelt they were. And Blake felt she was rapidly becoming more and more powerless in front of that increasingly frightening thing that was growing inside of her. The thing that made her scared of telling her best friend she loved her back because she was completely incapable of discerning what the true shape of those words was.

"Well?" Yang shot with a smile. "Don't stare at me like that without saying anything."

"It's your fault," Blake accused, resuming walking towards their classroom as a way to help move her feelings along too. "You keep doing that. And I don't know what to say."

She was adorably puzzled, trotting after her. "Doing what?"

The faunus couldn't believe she had to point this out. "Saying such beautiful things to me, time and time again," she still explained, a little bewildered. "How can you say things like that so easily?"

The blonde laughed that easy and carefree laugh of hers. "It's not _actually_ easy. It's just saying them to _you_ that's easy because I really mean it."

Blake wanted to throw her hands up in the air, but settled on exaggeratingly rolling her eyes. "You're such a flirt. You can't help yourself, can you?"

"Not around you," she shot, flashing a dazzlingly ravishing smile.

She hated that she loved it. "Stop it," she warned.

"I'm serious, Blake," the blonde interjected, this time so much more genuinely. It grabbed the faunus's attention enough for her to listen to her friend more receptively. "When you have that look on your face, it's much harder for me to keep those thoughts to myself than it is to remind you how you mean the world to me. Especially when I know it's gonna help make you feel even just a tad better."

An unnerving smile crept on her lips; even though it brought her through another sort of rollercoaster of emotions she couldn't even hint at, her partner really _did_ know how to cheer her up. "How gallant of you," she commented, "taking it upon yourself to safeguard my emotional wellbeing."

Yang seemed thrilled to have wrenched a smile out of her. "What are friends for?" She laughed, swinging her arm around her shoulders as they walked.

Blake hummed a vaguely positive response in agreement, unable to resist leaning into her. It made her happy. Screw her guilt. Her arm slid around her lower back to rest on her waist and her friend affectionately squeezed her a little closer to her side.

Yang smelled nice and she was warm. Yang was one of the people dearest to her on this planet, and she wasn't going to stop all physical interactions based on unfortunately maybe liking them just a tad too much. It wasn't Blake's fault if she found herself enjoying so many details about her. It wasn't her fault if there were so many things she found attractive about the blonde. It wasn't her fault if she was wired this way.

"Hey, Yang?" she called, glancing up to her. Her vibrantly alive and just _beautiful_ violet gems slid down to meet her gaze. Blake's heart fluttered again but she refused to acknowledge it did. "I really meant it when I said choosing you was the best decision I ever made."

Her eyes seemed to widen in slow motion as they welled up to shine in a glassy, emotional way and her face quickly reddened. Yang gasped weakly and then abruptly latched onto her, squeezing her uncomfortably tight.

"Hurts a bit," Blake indicated in a wheeze, to which her partner swiftly relaxed her grip. It still baffled her how much the golden girl actually liked her, how much this one line from Blake could touch her so. Very gently, she rested both hands on her waist, soothingly caressing her sides. "We're gonna be late for class," she indolently noted.

"We should skip," Yang suggested.

"To keep hugging?"

"Wouldn't it be great?"

Blake shook her head in resignation, separating from her. She however _did_ take her partner's hand in hers as she led her to class. 

**tbc**


	4. Chapter 4

Tearing herself from her bed had been more of a challenge than usual—not that Yang would typically be the first one up… she was simply rarely the last one. That prior evening, she'd gone to bed especially late thanks to that new video game she'd received as a birthday present from her father last time they'd visited Patch. He really knew how to pick them, and, in spite of her teammate's numerous warnings not to stay up too late… she ended up getting barely five hours of sleep. Nevertheless, she wasn't late per se, not if she hurried getting ready anyways, so it wasn't like Weiss had anything to complain about. Lightly slapping both her cheeks, she attempted to kick her brain into gear and went on to grab her uniform. Her body's motions were so sluggish and disconnected from her thoughts, it felt like she was on some sort of dysfunctional autopilot. That's also probably why she didn't think of knocking on the bathroom door before barging in.

Though the bathroom could of course be locked, given the amount of time they each needed to get ready, it had been a rule not to lock the door while they showered. The shower curtain being completely opaque, they'd deemed it would've been silly to block access to their three other teammates if they needed to come in to do their hair and makeup or brush their teeth.

It was agreed however, that they should knock before letting themselves in. So what absolutely _did_ wake Yang up was the very uncharacteristic and so girlish yelp Blake let out as the blonde walked in on her. The faunus had fortunately been facing away from the door, which somewhat helped preserve her chastity, but she was fresh out of the shower, her wet hair stuck to her back and she'd been in the process of drying herself.

It spontaneously reminded Yang that her partner was blessed with so much more than a pretty face. The one feature that incontestably and strikingly caught her eye was her naked buttocks, as they were nothing short of flawless. Not that Yang had been unaware of her friend's exceptional figure or of that particular feature of hers, but seeing it in all its glory was... unexpectedly stunning.

Blake plastered her towel to her front and whirled around to face her. "Why didn't you knock?!"

She was so dazed and mesmerized, she couldn't even blink. "Sorry," Yang sheepishly offered.

The towel the faunus clutched hung in front of her effectively covered her chest and privates, but some skin very visibly stuck out on each side of it, giving a very clear portrait of the spectacular shape of her body. Not feeling completely shielded must've been why Blake felt the need to swiftly glance down at herself to ensure everything that shouldn't be seen was indeed hidden before she again locked eyes with the intruder. Her cat ears were adorably rigid on her head and her face was a shade of red Yang had only rarely seen before.

They stared at each other in an extended silence.

The blonde couldn't tell what it was about how disheveled she was—naked, wet hair, clutching that towel so coyly— but she couldn't tear her eyes off her. It had to be because all this was so unlike the image Blake usually projected, right? That must've been it. It was only due to how atypical it was for Blake to be caught off guard, nevermind looking so demure. Though it probably didn't help that it was massively impressive how, even so completely unadorned, naturally beautiful she was.

Blake finally composed herself enough to speak again. "Can you let me dry myself and get dressed?"

What a weird question, Yang thought. "Uh... yeah?"

There was another pause, their eyes remaining on each other. Yang was wholly engrossed with Blake's completely bare face. She'd of course seen her without make up before, but now, the way her bangs were pushed back into her wet hair left her whole face unobstructed in a way Yang had never seen before, forcing her to re-acknowledge just how beautiful her partner was. Her skin was so impeccably immaculate, and her gorgeous, _gorgeous_ unadulterated features were exposed in all their glorious splendor and Yang just couldn't understand how someone could be so… perfect.

Because she was perfect! And it wasn't just her face! Her silhouette was an absolute work of art; a marble sculpture couldn't have been shaped better had a master given it their very best shot – which Yang had thought was the case from watching her clothed, but seeing her exquisite backside had only confirmed how right she'd been and—

"Yang," Blake's stern call drew her attention.

She blinked dumbly. "Yeah?"

"…Let me get dressed," she repeated.

The blonde couldn't understand why she was repeating herself. "Sure."

Blake stared at her with some sort of astonished disbelief. "That means: Get out!"

Now, she truly snapped out of it. "Oh! Yeah! Sorry!" With this she swiftly whirled around, closing the door behind herself. Yang leaned back against it and at once exhaled a hefty sigh, only now realizing she'd needed to breathe. And that her heart was racing. How odd.

She absentmindedly clutched her uniform to herself, lost in thought. Or rather, she'd have been lost in thought had she been able to formulate any. It was probably because she just wasn't super awake that she was so stumped right?

"What are you doing, zoning out?" Weiss interrupted her lack of brainpower. "If you don't hurry up you'll be late."

"Blake's not ready," she blurted. "She's naked."

Her teammate gave her a weirded-out look. "…Thanks for telling me…?"

Somewhat embarrassed, she tried again. "I mean, I need the bathroom. It's occupied."

Weiss was all the more unimpressed. "Ah." Without further ado, she went on to do her hair.

For the rest of the morning, Blake seemed to find it hard to look at her. Yang, on her part, couldn't seem to prevent her gaze from drifting back to her partner. She wondered if it was only genetics or if it was part of the way she trained that gave her such a perfect shape. Not that Yang was unhappy with her own, she was in fact amply satisfied and quite confident in her own looks, not to mention she did need her mass for power, but Blake's was just _so_ … indescribably beautiful, one simply could _not_ remain indifferent.

It was only as they got to mock combat classes in the afternoon, once they'd found themselves in the locker room, that Yang actively made an effort to stop scrutinizing her partner. Not that she would've minded another look at that ass, but Blake seemed downright wary of her by then, so she decided not to be weird about it.

Starting then, things quickly fell back into order. Or maybe, combat simulation forced Blake to overcome the odd distance she kept. It happened like second nature, seamlessly falling into rhythm the moment they stood together against another pair. Yang loved it. She could give a simple look and Blake seemed to read her mind. Similarly, watching her partner's movements had her able to predict what she would do and how to complement her actions. Blake was at times her anchor, at others her shadow. She at times dictated her pace and harnessed Yang's power like an extension of her own, at others submitted completely to be hurled into combat or blindly relied on her to be caught after a stunt.

Which, Yang realized she should be doing right about now, as she watched Blake's body describe an arch in the air. The brawler pulverized the distance and snatched the other woman before Cardin's swing could even graze her. The second moment, still mid-air, Blake used her as stepping stone to catapult herself to the stupefied young man and utterly obliterate him.

Yang had found the ground just in time to see her deal the finishing blow. She didn't really know if it was pride in her partner or satisfaction in seeing that asshole eat the ground, but as the dust started to settle and the board showed his aura gauge go from a small red bar to empty, her grin widened inordinately.

Landing somewhat further, the first thing Blake did was check her blade; it wasn't a surprise she cared more for her weapon than to witness her vanquished opponent. She ran her index along the sharp edge and then motioned to Yang towards the area to the back that was furnished with everything from whetstones, to gun cleaning supplies, to dust managing and handling supplies. A few students were doing maintenance on their weapons, making it already somewhat crowded, so the brawler nodded, watching her partner trot over there without joining her.

Scanning the rest of the room had her notice that most pairs weren't done with their own matches. As such, her sister and her own partner were still midway through their own, as were most of their friends. Though, seeing Pyrrha sitting to the side and polishing her shield didn't shock her—she _was_ the prodigy child, of course she'd have wrapped up her match already. Yang looked back to the area Blake had gone off to and noticed Jaune was over there too, and so the brawler decided to go sit with the lone red figure.

She plopped down next to her. "You don't need to sharpen Miló?" she asked, poking the javelin.

"I only used Akoúo̱," Pyrrha nonchalantly answered, continuing with her task.

"…And you still won," Yang confirmed; she didn't know why she was surprised.

The tall redhead shrugged non-committedly, maybe not wanting to brag. Even though winning a pairs match with only her shield and Jaune to protect would _absolutely_ have given her bragging rights, Pyrrha wasn't too keen on lingering on it. "Your match didn't seem to be too much of a challenge either."

The blonde gave a laugh. "It really wasn't! Cardin's so full of himself, he can't assist Russel _or_ rely on him for help. They really have no idea how to work together."

Her good mood drew a smile out of Pyrrha. "Unlike Blake and you?"

It was a little embarrassing how invigorated she was with someone else pointing out how remarkable her teamwork with her feline partner was. "You know it! We're the dream team!" she cheerily exclaimed.

"You can say that again," her friend agreed with a bit of a resigned sigh. "I'm jealous, honestly. I wish mine and Jaune's intuitive cooperation went over even _half_ as smoothly as with you two."

Although Yang couldn't for the life of her understand how anyone could be interested in him romantically—for her part she couldn't picture being attracted to anyone other than someone who could challenge her both mentally and physically, someone for whom she'd have the utmost respect and who would again and again inspire her to strive to better herself— she could nevertheless acknowledge that everyone was different, and everyone required different pieces to complete their own life puzzle. Jaune did have his good points, and Pyrrha's wants and needs might be ones that he could meet… if he ever were to notice her.

Knowing how earnestly and tirelessly her friend had been striving to help, support and encourage the oblivious blonde boy, Yang's excitement dwindled into sympathy.

"He's not doing awful given how you two are on pretty different levels," she pointed out, attempting to give her something positive to focus on. "And for cooperation… you really shouldn't be comparing you two to Bake and I. I mean, her weapon and mine couldn't be more different, while you two are way too similar! So even if you _were_ on the same level, you still couldn't fully cover each other's weaknesses," she reminded her. "You're better suited to mentor him instead of like… complementing each other?"

Pyrrha gave the sort of half smile indicating she did appreciate the effort to cheer her up. "The way you two complement each other with you focusing on close range and Blake on mid to long range," she stated, as if repeating a lesson she'd learned long ago from a textbook.

"That's a good starting point," the blonde re-joined, her smile returning somewhat. "But I… I don't think that's all there is. Long range or not… it's… I don't think it matters that much with Blake. It's just _different_ with her," she reflected, lacing her fingers together as she extended her arms over her head for a much-needed stretch. She dropped her hands in her lap again, looking on to where her feline partner had gone to sharpen her blade. "When I was at Signal, I did pair up with a bunch of different long-range fighters, but I never managed anything even _close_ to how it is with Blake with any of them," she explained distractedly.

"You mean this even barring the time you've had to build up your teamwork?"

"Yeah. I meant… right away, it'd just _clicked_. I did better with her on the first try than I did with friends at Signal that I'd known for years," she confessed, returning her attention to her interlocutor. "And _now_ , with the time I _did_ have to get to know her, it's just crazy. Working with her is so much like second nature it's scary."

Pyrrha's smile had softened. "Wouldn't it only be expected though?"

"Huh?" Yang blinked rapidly in confusion. "It is? Why?"

"Why?" she repeated. "Are you _really_ surprised that it's different with Blake compared to others?" Somehow, she was also perplexed. "I mean, one tends to get to know their… partner? Don't they?"

The golden girl shrugged. "You'd think so, but there are so many pairs who _still_ have trouble adapting to this partner thing," she reminded her.

Now Pyrrha seemed somewhat at a loss. "… No, Yang, I meant… ... _partner_ ," she repeated again. And now she stared at her pointedly.

Yang squinted her eyes in concentration as she tried to figure out what her friend was attempting to say. Only one other thing came to mind, but she couldn't be trying to imply… … … wait, could she?

Pyrrha cleared her throat. "Significant other?" she finally tried, confirming this was indeed what she'd been trying to convey.

She felt her cheeks flare. "Blake's not—" At once she remembered that day in the library she'd herself proclaimed her intentions of marrying her faunus partner. "Wait, is it Nora's fault?"

"Nora didn't—" She stopped, now frowning deeply. "Yang, why would any of this be _Nora's_ fault?"

"…It's..." She trailed off, realizing that if Pyrrha didn't immediately understand why it would, it meant that, though Nora might not have believed them when they'd told her the marriage thing was a joke, she still hadn't been broadcasting 'news' of them being… together. "It doesn't matter, really," she ended up brushing it off. "But if it's not her spreading nonsense, then why did you think…?"

"I … I'm not sure," Pyrrha disconcertedly stated. "…But I was _certain_ that you two…"

Yang stared back for a moment, awaiting an explanation that never came. " _Why_ though."

"I-I don't know, I figured—… I guess, maybe the way you interact?" She tried.

An unconvinced eyebrow was raised. "You think we act like a couple?"

"Well… you don't _not_ act like a couple," Pyrrha awkwardly proposed. "...I mean, you danced together at the dance."

"Just one song."

"I thought you couldn't spend more time with her because you organized the dance and had things to tend to," she then justified. "But even putting this aside… every time you're together, there's open flirting and liberal touching on your part."

"I'm a touchy person," Yang defended, now feeling herself get a little agitated. She didn't know why all this was getting to her, she should've just laughed it off. Maybe she was more tired than she thought? She shouldn't have stayed up playing that video game so late.

Pyrrha gave a sigh, staring at her for a short second. "…I don't know what to tell you, Yang," she eventually surrendered. "I'm sorry I was mistaken, I didn't mean to offend you."

"No, it's not that I'm offended," she quickly corrected. 'Offence' truly was _way_ off, but she didn't know what it was either so, loathe to linger on it, she found herself latching onto the first thing she could come up with. "It's just… it's not how it is. And also, if you thought that, then maybe other people also think that."

"And that bothers you?"

She waved her hand in negation. "Oh no, that's not it either," Yang offhandedly threw. "But I'm pretty sure it'd bother Blake," she then conceded. After all, anything that ever drew attention to her bothered her. Though Yang truly believed it was a hopeless endeavor for her to try to blend into the crowd because someone as good looking as she was would always stand out anyways, and Blake should just accept and embrace her pre-eminence and take advantage of it, it still wasn't hers to decide what her partner should or shouldn't feel comfortable with. Blake didn't like attention, it was simply how it was. The blonde crossed her arms in contemplation. "Also, I was wondering why no one was hitting on me and now it totally makes sense."

At this, the tall redhead laughed. "You were looking to date?"

"…No," she realized. Her gaze dropped to her lap, a little confounded. "Huh," she gave thoughtfully. It would've been normal to be interested in romance, but she'd simply never thought of seeking out a potential boyfriend. And now she realized… she didn't _want_ to either. "I don't know. I'm plenty happy with the team," she explained, and it seemed to be enough for her friend to nod in understanding. It didn't change that, having grasped this, Yang herself was a little stumped. "Maybe I don't need no man in my life," she grinned.

"Unless you're attracted to women, that's bound to change someday," Pyrrha pointed out playfully.

"That's true," she absentmindedly gave. In thought, she leaned back, and her head rolled on her own shoulders, eventually directing her gaze at the other woman. "Hey, have you ever kissed a girl?"

She glanced her way and Yang's lips stretched into a grin as she wiggled her eyebrows at her.

Pyrrha narrowed her eyes. "I haven't, and I'm not interested."

"I thought you were into blondes," Yang countered, leaning closer.

Evidently completely above her teasing, her friend just stared back. "You really flirt with everyone, it's amazing," she answered in misplaced awe.

"That's still a no?"

"…Would you _really_ do it if I said yes?" She skeptically questioned.

Yang found herself pausing. Pyrrha was good-looking for sure, but she had no desire to kiss her, not even just to try it. It was no surprise she wouldn't want to—this was nothing more than silly banter that'd been thrown out there without any second thought, there had been no substance to it. "I wouldn't," she admitted. "I don't actually want to."

Putting her shield away, she sighed. "Why do you this? Flirt with everyone this way."

Noticing out of the corner of her eye a black silhouette approaching completely captured her attention. "…I don't know, it's fun," she dismissively answered, looking up at the figure now standing in front of them.

Blake looked down at them curiously. "You two looked awfully engrossed in your conversation. What's it about?"

Yang flashed the most dazzlingly charming smile she could muster. "Your _amazing_ ass."

She'd spoken before thinking and, as what had happened that morning evidently flashed through both their minds, Blake kept her eyes locked with hers as if daring her to say another word.

Yet the fact that she _had_ seen the full glory of it only compelled her even more to defend her spontaneous outburst. "It really _is_ amazing though," the blonde whispered.

Without batting an eye, the faunus's golden orbs darted to their friend, openly interrogating for an actual answer.

"…Nothing much. Mostly, Yang's incessant flirting," Pyrrha vaguely said, maybe not wanting to get into the whole dating debate again. "Of which you seem to be the default victim," she then noted. "How do you deal with it?"

"Most of the time I try not to acknowledge her," Blake impassively divulged. "Though I found that if I always ignore her, she just tries harder… and _that_ can be appalling. So for both our sakes, I'll humor her from time to time."

"Was that why you played along?" Yang laughed.

"Yes," she flatly gave.

"I'm hurt," she proclaimed with an exaggerated pout, now rising to her feet. "Here I thought you _liked_ it." With this, she leaned over her with a very sleazy grin.

Golden orbs slid up to meet her gaze. Blake held her stare for a while before, for a second only, her lips twitched into an almost imperceptible smile. "Okay you got me," she affirmed. "I _live_ for it."

Why the subtlety of her expressions was so stupidly endearing was beyond her, but Yang felt so much more drawn to lean closer. "You do, don't you," she pressed, finding herself so intimately in her space that it would've felt bizarrely inappropriate had it been anyone else. But this was Blake, and with her it felt inherently natural.

Unruffled by the looming presence over her, she let her hover in her personal space without conceding an inch. "You're the sole light in the darkness and gloom of my days," she answered, her tone just a tad melodramatic.

It still made her grin stretch inordinately wider. "And one day, I hope to completely take the darkness and gloom away," Yang proclaimed, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

The nagging smile that Blake had been trying to suppress finally broke through and the blonde was unreasonably thrilled with her victory. She leaned her head to hers and Blake rolled her eyes, openly smiling now.

"And _that's_ why people think you're dating," Pyrrha called from where she was sitting.

"No," Blake interjected, "that's only Nora, and it was because Yang outright _told_ her we planned on getting married."

The brawler was delighted that her partner's first instinct about where the blame actually laid had been the same as hers. Though she couldn't tell if it spoke to their own similar reasoning or to Nora's personality.

The redhead wasn't very impressed with them. Her vivid green eyes caught the violet ones. "...And how was it _ever_ relevant to tell Nora something like that?"

Feeling put on the spot, she straightened up, dropping her arm from around her partner. "I don't know, she'd been looking at demographics of how often team members ended up married to each other, and then she said something about it not happening with teams like ours because we're all female," Yang retold. "I thought it wasn't fair that she'd say something like that, so I just… blurted that. And Blake played along. But then when I told Nora we were joking, she didn't believe me."

"We did try clearing things up," Blake confirmed, as if she felt her having played along put some responsibility on her.

Pyrrha stared up at them for a short second before standing up and dusting her rear. "…I mean, I don't blame her for not believing it was only a joke," she awkwardly defended.

Blake's eyebrows twitched in what might've been a frown had she let it develop. "What does that mean?"

As the blonde glanced to her partner, some form of anxiety, of aversion that she might react poorly to the entire dating misunderstanding gripped her to her core. She quickly rationalized that if she didn't want to see Blake react negatively to all this, it was surely because she feared it might put a strain on their relationship and closeness. "Don't worry about it," she waved off, hoping not to get back into that topic. "It's nothing. It's stupid."

But Blake squinted her golden eyes interrogatively, and Yang had no idea how just a look could have so much power over her, but she felt _commanded_ to answer.

"It's nothing," she said again, and was met with a furtherly narrowed gaze that certainly bordered on a scowl. Her explanation left her lips before she could think twice. "It's just that Pyrrha _somehow_ also thought we were dating. It's really dumb," she said, giving a derisive laugh.

Blake didn't laugh along. Her expression was in fact very sober, and she turned her attention fully to Pyrrha. Her piercing gaze made it look like she was trying to read her mind, or maybe it was like she was searching for something? Or maybe even… challenging her?

In her disquiet, Yang became wholly engrossed with trying to decipher what her partner was searching for, but before she could figure it out, Blake's gaze abruptly fell to the ground with a decidedly distraught frown. It broke the blonde out of it and she turned back to Pyrrha, only to catch her gawking at _Yang_ with round eyes. And now the very annoyingly strong impression she had just missed something major in the silent exchange between her two friends as she'd been spacing out staring at her faunus partner washed over her. Yang put her hands on her hips. "What?"

And Pyrrha now also looked tremendously uncomfortable. "Nothing," she claimed.

Quite bothered, the blonde glanced back to her best friend, whose expression had settled into something very detached and impassive again. Blake's gaze was nevertheless lost somewhere down, maybe on the red sash at the tall redhead's waist, and so violet eyes snapped back to the vivid green ones again. " _What_?"

"Nothing," Pyrrha quickly repeated, her gaze darting to Blake for less than a second. "I just—I don't think it's stupid. Even if Nora and I got it wrong. Even if that's not how it is," she explained, her sort of timid apprehension giving way to self-assurance as she spoke. "It's not because it's unconventional that it's stupid."

"That's not what I meant," Yang bemoaned.

"So then what _did_ you mean?" The redhead pressed startlingly harshly.

At loss with both how precipitously Pyrrha's demeanor had become uncompromisingly severe and with being interrogated over something she'd shot innocuously, Yang was baffled into stillness. Confused, she turned from a very stern Pyrrha to the attentive spectator that Blake had become, and Yang realized both her friends were waiting for an answer. "I… I didn't want Blake to feel weird that people may seriously think..." she trailed off uncomfortably. Her hand found its way to the back of her neck, under her colossal mane, as she tried to formulate into words her train of thought. "I didn't want her to be put off or bothered by it, so I guess I… felt like I should make it seem insignificant, so she'd shrug it off, or something."

Blake had that same piercing gaze with which she'd spear through people when interrogating them about faunus rights. "Why would you think it'd bother me? I play along, don't I?"

"No, but I mean… I thought it _would_ start to bother you if people started taking it seriously," Yang awkwardly indicated.

"Why?"

She motioned to the bow on her head. "Blake, you do everything you can not to stand out," she reminded her. "And… rumors like that definitely would make us stand out. So I figured it'd bother you."

With this, what had been so sharp and uncompromising in the golden of her gaze gave into a softness and sweetness that she rarely let surface. Blake delicately rested her hand on her upper arm and, as every time her friend would exhibit even the most conservative display of affection, the blonde's heart soared. It felt like a tremendous victory every time Blake had one of those moments because it felt more and more like she was letting her in, like she was getting comfortable with her, like she might feel she didn't need that impassive mask she wore to protect herself. And oh how Yang wanted her to feel she didn't need to protect herself, to feel she was safe.

"You don't need to go such lengths to protect my feelings," the faunus quietly said, the tenderness in her voice reflecting what had been in her gaze a moment ago.

"Don't I?" the brawler earnestly questioned back. "You're secretive, Blake, it's hard enough already to just have you loosen up."

"It doesn't help any if we end up having misunderstandings," she disputed, dropping her hand from where it'd been on her arm. Yang felt robbed of the bit of warmth it brought.

"What misunderstanding?" she balked, glancing to their taller friend for a second. "Did you two _seriously_ think I'd have any sort of problem with something like that?"

"People can surprise you," Pyrrha pointed out, "…sometimes in unfortunate ways."

Yang pursed her lips unhappily. "Yeah, but the getting married stunt was my idea," she pointed out. "Plus, I just offered to kiss you a minute ago."

Blake, eyes closed and eyebrows furrowed in apparent concentration, put her hand up as if to pause the conversation. "Okay. _What_?"

"When I told you Yang's incessant flirting, I meant it," the redhead commented.

And just like this, habit took over. "Don't worry, Blake," she flirtingly cooed, wrapping her arm again around her to nuzzle her. "I wouldn't do anything with Pyrrha that I haven't already done with you."

Pyrrha's lips stretched into an uncharacteristically devious grin she wasn't even attempting to suppress. "So, if I'm understanding you correctly, you're saying you'll kiss her," she pointed out.

Caught off guard, she turned to meet gorgeous golden eyes that had locked onto her own, and Yang realized how close their faces were. For a reason that seemed just barely out of her grasp, her playful mood fizzled, and all her casual flirting felt absurdly inappropriate because all of it didn't— … It didn't feel… _silly_ anymore. In fact, the idea of kissing Blake seemed the furthest thing from a joke and the way her amusement abruptly died completely blindsided her.

"Pyrrha…!" Jaune's helpless lamenting interrupted. He had what looked to be part of the deploying mechanism of his shield in his hand. "This thing won't – Oh, sorry, did I just interrupt?"

"No," Blake firmly shot. Her gaze darted to Pyrrha in an oddly stern glare. "We were done." And just like this, she turned on her heel and walked off, not leaving anyone a chance to add anything else.

The way her feline partner abruptly seemed to be in a bad mood again had Yang quickly decide it'd be best to clear it up before she swallowed her feelings again and the misunderstanding festered. Waving farewell to the other pair, she jogged off after the dark haired faunus. It wasn't too much of an effort to catch up with her, Blake even seemed to slow down to allow her to. They ended up walking together at a comfortable pace, but her golden orbs were riveted to the ground as they made their way out of the vast training grounds.

Trying to rack her brain to what might've bothered her in all this, the only thing Yang could think of was that… maybe Blake was uncomfortable that her admittedly excessive flirting had brought even their shrewder friends, someone who usually has great judgment like Pyrrha, to think something like this. "Blake?" she called gently, drawing her eyes. "Do you want me to stop it…?"

"Stop what?" Her tone was flat.

Which only made Yang feel meeker. "Jokingly flirting like that," she clarified. "I mean, I get it if you want me to stop. If it starts being weird and all. And people start to gossip and all."

Her entire facial expression was completely deadpan. "I told you I live for it."

Yang felt a smile creep up on her. "Is that your way of telling me to do whatever?"

"Sure."

"What if I go on a rampage?!"

Had she not learned to pay close attention, Yang probably would've missed how the corner of her lips twitched up almost imperceptibly and how that twinkle in her eyes held unmistakable fondness. "Rampage away."

Something snapped deep within her in the same sort of feeling that surfaces when something cute triggers an aggressive need to squish and hug. And so that's what Yang did. With a sound somewhere between a growl and a laugh, she seized her friend and lifted her off the ground a few inches. Blake had barely suppressed a gasp, obviously not expecting this, and the blonde just twirled them a spin or two, grinning like a madwoman. Having properly stunned her, she let the faunus down on solid ground again and Blake swiftly twisted to face her in a defensive stance… but with a nonetheless somewhat amused expression.

"Rampage," Yang reminded her, still grinning. "That's just a taste."

"A taste?" she repeated on a playfully dreading tone. "And what else do you intend to do?"

For some reason, Pyrrha's suggestion of kissing her floated through her mind, which she hurriedly shooed away. Though the fleeting thought had sidetracked her enough that she just stared down blankly at her.

Blake leaned forward a bit in interest, remaining in her defensive fighting stance. A strand of sleek midnight hair streamed over her shoulder with a shine, emphasizing its silkiness, and Yang noted again the contrast of its pure black color against the pale yet healthy color of her cheek, and it forced her to acknowledge again how smooth and velvety her skin looked and then she was thinking again of the image of her entire naked backside. "Yang?"

"You're stupidly beautiful, you know?" she remarked, forgetting herself.

Blake didn't budge. "So flattery's the angle you're going for?"

"No, that was—" she stopped, remembering how she'd just told her she's be going on a flirting _rampage_. "That was genuine. It's just… it's so impressive sometimes."

"What?"

"Your beauty," she clarified, determined to get her sincerity across. "Sometimes I'll turn around and you'll look like you're moving in slow motion and like it's all a movie scene, and it doesn't look real at all. Because the focus's all on you and everything else disappears."

Blake scoffed, rolling her eyes exaggeratedly. "I don't know what you're trying to do, but it's not working."

Recognizing it truly hadn't been the best time to compliment her, she felt herself smile a bit of a dejected smile and decided to let it go. "Words won't work, huh?" she mused, attempting to resume with her playful mood. "So actions speak louder?"

She raised her fists higher in front of her face. "No actions."

It truly amused her, she gave a candid laugh. "You don't even know what I'm gonna do."

Blake looked a mix of offended and apprehensive. "You actually _intended_ on doing something to me?"

And Yang grinned suggestively. "What _wouldn't_ I do to you?"

"You sound like a pervy old man," she signalled, dropping her stance to resume walking.

The blonde trotted after her. "That… actually might be my uncle's fault," Yang explained, very much amused with the realization.

"Does he have any luck with women?"

"He doesn't have much luck in any area."

Blake glanced her way with a bit of a scowl. "Then don't follow his example," she advised.

The tall blonde hummed as if she was actually thinking it over. "You think I'd have more luck if I didn't?"

Her friend stopped walking to openly gawk at her. "Was that how you'd _actually_ flirt if you were serious?"

"Of course not!" she exclaimed. "I'm way smoother than that, I'll have you know."

"...Sure."

Somehow that piqued her. "You _did_ save me a dance," she pointed out.

A frown then took over, and Blake opened her mouth as if she was going to argue, yet no argument came. She ultimately crossed her arms, looking away. "...This and that are two entirely different matters."

Yang laughed heartily. "They're _not_! I was serious about getting you to attend the dance," she reminded her.

She crossed her arms tighter. "And I did, but it wasn't the flirting part that got me to attend," Blake reasoned.

Her eyebrows went up slightly. "What about getting you to dance with me?"

And Blake still had a come-back. " _That_ doesn't mean anything about your flirting skills, because you weren't serious about the whole thing."

"Says who?"

Now this silenced her.

The surprisingly vulnerable look of uncertainty Blake gave her along with her total incapacity of coming up with a retort had Yang swiftly regret pushing it this much. Dangling the possibility that her flirting may have had intent succeeded in making Blake uncomfortably cautious, and it was a surprise even to herself that the blonde felt her stomach turn. Her amusement abruptly died again. Why was it… _painful_ that Blake seemed so wary when presented with this suggestion?

Loathe to linger on it, Yang decided that the reason her mood had been shot was simply because she hated the possibility of Blake distancing herself, especially over something she'd blurted without second thought simply to win a word match. After all, there could be no other reason for her to feel so awful over her partner's guarded hesitancy could there?

"I'm kidding, Blake," she hurriedly said. "It wasn't like that at all."

Her features relaxed, though not with relief the way Yang had expected to see. No, instead they relaxed into an oddly forlorn look that Yang would only get to see in rare moments. But usually it showed in moments like when she'd sit by her after she'd had a nightmare, or when Yang would be making an active effort to cheer her up. This one was one of the only looks she had yet to decipher.

"I thought so," the dark haired faunus allowed. "But you looked so serious for a second there, it blindsided me."

It took everything within her to push past the sickening feeling that'd taken over, she wanted to return to light-hearted banter. "Oh, then I'll just make sure I'll keep it up with the pervy old man comments so it's clear."

"No, I really wouldn't mind if you lost those," she interceded.

Yang sighed dramatically. " _How_ should I go about flirting, then? Should I serenade you?"

And Blake seemed utterly unimpressed. "Isn't that what you keep doing on a regular basis?"

Did she? She really didn't remember doing it. "I do that?"

" _All the time_ ," her friend stressed. "I've accused you of it before."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Her demeanor softened considerably in favor of something adorably coy. Blake sucked her lips in for a second and exhaled silently. "I mean… About all those times you'll get all serious and… and tell me really sweet, really beautiful things."

In a lightbulb moment, Yang at once remembered all the times she'd tried to make Blake understand how much she meant to her, and how her admiring rants and her never-ending fawning could quite certainly qualify. "Oh, right…"

Her spunk somewhat returned and Blake looked at her pointedly. "When you sign my praises this way, I feel it would qualify as serenading me," she still emphasized.

The blonde was a left a little perplexed. "…Damn, so how do I step it up?"

"No stepping it up," the faunus interjected on a scolding tone.

"But, _rampage_ ," she gingerly repeated.

And Blake had that exaggeratedly aggravated expression of hers, but her eyes still told of her amusement. "Do you _have_ to?"

"Yes," Yang gave, as if it'd been the most obvious thing. "And even if I didn't... if I don't step it up, how can you tell the difference between when I'm serious about what I mean to tell you and when I'm just playing?"

"I can tell, you can just keep doing what you do."

As the image of how distraught Blake had appeared a second ago coursed through her again, her chest compressed in an oddly painful way. "You say that, but just now you couldn't tell at all," she unassumingly reminded her. She wondered if maybe it was because she wouldn't have expected Blake to be spurned by the suggestion, given what had happened with Pyrrha earlier, that Yang found herself so distraught with her friend's reaction. Yeah, that _had_ to be it. It was simply because she hadn't expected Blake to react so strongly to the general concept. Why else would she be distressed that her partner had looked so troubled?

"It was the one time," Blake said more quietly. "And you… said that differently than you usually do."

"How differently?"

"...Less over-the-top-ly different," she carefully answered, her gaze turning so astute.

Yang had the distinct impression again that she was trying to gauge her a second time over all this. Her partner's penetrating stare left her feeling uncomfortably bare and vulnerable, and Yang couldn't tell why it did because it wasn't like she minded letting Blake in _or_ like she had anything to hide. Yet she felt the urge to hurry the moment along and she took pompous airs to help herself dredge up some bravado. "So, you're telling me I need to be over-the-top then."

"None of that either."

Being shot down yet again had the brawler plant her hands on her hips. "Okay, well how would _you_ go about flirting then?"

Unconcerned, her friend shrugged. "I don't know how to flirt, and I don't care to."

And Yang snorted derisively. " _Yeah_ , that's 'cause you don't need to put any effort in seducing anyone thanks to your movie star looks."

"Stop that," she protested with a harmless swat.

Amusement crept on her again and the blonde let her grin show it. "It's true though," she claimed. "I don't know how _anyone_ could say no to you."

Blake glanced up at her. "You're telling me that I can just... take whoever I want? And they'd be willing?"

She nodded enthusiastically. "Oh yeah! Definitely!"

Gaze riveted on her in a long pause, the faunus ultimately sighed gently. "It's not as simple as that," she objected.

"But it is," Yang insisted. "If it's you, Blake, it _really_ is."

She hummed pensively in response, still fixedly staring at her.

"I'm telling you. Just give it a try and you'll see."

"…Yeah?"

" _Yeah_!"

Blake kept staring at her, apparently giving it a fair thought. It took quite a long minute before she eventually gave in: "Well… if you're so sure."

Yang's eyebrows shot up and she gave another nod.

With this, her partner expressionlessly stepped closer, casually reaching to take her hand in hers. She laced their fingers together, still staring up at her.

"What are you doing?" she curiously asked, feeling herself smile.

"I'm trying out your advice."

"On me?" she laughed.

"I'd treat you like a queen," Blake offered.

And Yang's smile softened into something that was likely grossly tender. "That'd be nice," she acknowledged, her tone so warm it surprised even herself.

Gazing into each other's eyes, the next moment lingered like time was suspended. The very air around them felt cozy and warm, and Yang wondered for a second how she'd _ever_ feel so at ease and connected to anyone else. She wouldn't want to be with a guy who wouldn't be able to make her feel something similar to this, and she couldn't conceive how anyone else could ever make her feel this way, and she thought to herself… it really didn't bode well for her romantic prospects.

"So, is that enough? I don't need to do anything else?" Blake casually asked.

Literally just _taking_ the other person by grabbing their hand might just be too literal, Yang thought to herself. "I mean… making your intentions clear is a good start, but, on second thought, maybe you need to do a _bit_ of courting too," she mused.

So, after a short moment giving it a thought, Blake started delicately manipulating her hand it in hers, taking it upon herself to peel her glove off. She then brought it up to her face and Yang felt the staggeringly alluring softness of her lips meet the newly uncovered skin, sending a jolt through her entire body.

"Don't do that," the brawler objected, embarrassingly shaken.

Golden orbs peered up at her, her warm breath on her knuckles and delicate lips barely grazing her fingers. "You're the one who told me to do some courting," she contested. "You don't like it?"

"No, I _really_ do," she conceded agitatedly, "and now you're setting the bar too high for the next guy."

What passed in her expression then was something Yang couldn't recognize, but it was quickly overtaken by a very clear-cut air of determination that only someone with Blake's drive could express. "I'm going to set the bar so high, there will only be a next one when it's the right one," she asserted.

It was evident that her proclamation was motivated by how Yang had once confided in her to having been hurt by inconsiderate boyfriends. Her heart was beating incredibly hard, and Yang thought it just _had_ to be because of how touched she was that Blake had not only listened and remembered, but was also thoughtful about it all. Sure, maybe her heart rate _might_ have also shot up a tiny bit because of the alluring sensation of her lips, but they were just so soft, anyone would be staggered. "Are you being protective of me?"

"Yes," Blake flatly answered, never breaking from her gaze as she brought her hand to her lips again.

"...Geez," the blonde muttered, feeling herself redden. Her best friend was merely teasing her, yet it genuinely felt _so_ _good_ that she couldn't take her hand back. "I thought you said you couldn't flirt."

"What, is it working?"

"I ju—… Uh…" she was baffled. Was it? Because if it wasn't _why_ couldn't she compose herself? It was disconcertingly embarrassing that she was so helpless. "...It's just. Your lips are really soft," Yang explained.

Looking a little puzzled, Blake carefully held her hand a little tighter with both hers. "That's a good thing, isn't it?"

"Not right now!"

Her expression slowly morphed to take on a bit of an analytic quality. "...Because you really like it?" she inquired.

"Yes!" she cried, discomfited.

And now she looked strangely vigilant. "And that's... a bad thing?"

Yang had the impression time, space and even her own breathing came to a pause. The question was so simple and the answer so obvious. _Of course_ , it wasn't inherently _bad_. But, then… what would that imply? If she liked it _this_ much, then was this something significant…? Her heart pulsed in her throat and in her head, and the moment felt unnervingly precarious and _important_ … and she couldn't tell why it did.

"I don't understand," Penny shot, making them both jump out of their skins—where had she come from?! "How can something agreeable be a bad thing?" The odd redhead curiously inquired, completely heedless to their discomfiture.

"Since when have you been there?!" Yang exclaimed, feeling herself redden several shades darker than she'd already been.

"Since Blake was saying you could be her queen," Penny casually repeated, seemingly unruffled, "which, I didn't know you were a princess, Yang, does that also make Ruby a princess?"

"No, that's not what it is," the blonde quickly answered, furtively stealing an awkward glance at her feline partner, who looked absolutely mortified. "That's not what Blake meant."

"So you're _not_ royalty," Penny nonetheless confirmed.

"Definitely not."

The curious probing still continued. "Is Blake planning a coup to make you royalty?"

Yang now fully turned to her partner, this time in dismay, only to witness how she'd by-passed the embarrassment stage to reach a point she was _impressed_ with the candidness of the intruder's questions.

Their baffled consternation flew high above her head and Penny remained undeterred. "I have a duty to report any insurgent party were I to come across—"

"That's not it!" The brawler quickly defended, staggered with the turn this was taking. She thought that if Penny legitimately didn't understand it, it'd be best to explain the figure of speech. "It's just something you say to someone you want to spoil and pamper," she offered. "Someone who's special to you."

If she had had a light bulb screwed to her head, it would have lit up. "Oh! Understood!" the redhead exclaimed brightly. She pressed both hands together, smiling widely as she looked from the tall blonde to the shorter faunus. "You're special to each other!"

About to object in embarrassment, Yang nevertheless realized that, though she'd meant to describe something else when she said 'special'… Blake undoubtedly _was_ special to her, and so, gazing fondly into those golden orbs, she found herself agreeing with a smile, "Yeah."

Her bow was quivering, and Blake was so red that she was almost glowing. It was really cute.

Penny oooh-ed in understanding; it truly felt like gears were turning in her head so genuinely engrossed in her learning process she was. She then nodded to herself emphatically. "I have committed this valuable information to memory," she cheerfully announced. Her mood then at once shifted to business-like as she swiftly turned to the faunus. "We should escort you to the nurse's office," she suddenly declared.

The dark haired woman frowned. "No – I'm…. What makes you think so? I'm fine."

"Your body temperature indicates hyperthermia. A fever," Penny explained.

At a loss of words, Blake's mouth hung slightly open and she frowned deeply.

Yang wondered if some form of thermal imaging, or at least having a good sense for it, was part of Penny's semblance. After all, it wasn't the first time she pulled something of the sort; she'd been aware Blake hid her ears under her bow from the first time she'd seen her. And this time around, Blake's furious blushing probably was what had mislead her into reading a fever.

"I'll bring her," Yang volunteered, not wanting to argue with the strange redhead. Blake's gaze slid to her to confirm and Yang simply gave her a look indicating to humor her. "Wait," she turned to Penny again, "what are you even doing on Beacon grounds? Are you allowed to be here?"

"Yes," she hiccupped. "I'm _definitely_ allowed to be here," she hiccupped again. "I've come because I have _most_ _excellent_ news for my friend, Ruby! When I saw you two, I ventured you might know where I could find her!"

So that was why she'd intruded on them.

The blonde gave a pensive hum. They'd left the training grounds in a bit of a hurry, and having been taken in that whole conversation with Pyrrha, she hadn't paid much attention to where her sister was at and whether or not her match was done. But if it was anything like the last training sessions… "She probably stayed behind at the weapons workshop after her match was done," Yang mused, checking the time on her scroll. "But right now she's almost certainly back at our room."

Penny smiled widely. "Would it be okay if I went?"

"I don't see why not," the brawler turned to her partner again, who simply shrugged. "The dorm's that building over there," she then instructed, pointing it out for her. "Fourth floor. Room 408."

"Marvelous!" How lively and gleeful she consistently was truly was remarkable, almost inhuman. Penny started on her way towards the dorms before she stopped to call out to them. "Oh! And I will tell her Blake shall be just fine!"

"...Yeah," the brawler muttered, just a bit in awe.

Blake waited for the oddball to be out of hearing range before she affirmed: "I don't have a fever, I'm fine."

"You were beet red," Yang laughed, successfully getting some of the color to return to her cheeks. "It's probably all it was. And I didn't want her to get it in her head to get you there."

"So you sent her to our room?"

Blonde eyebrows went up. "Is that a problem?"

The faunus gave a quiet sigh. "It's just… I wanted to finish my novel. And now there's guaranteed chaos over there."

She should've thought of it. "Right," she acknowledged, yet she didn't have to think twice for a solution; it'd been served to them already. "Let's go to the infirmary after we drop off our weapons and get changed."

"I told you I'm fine," she repeated, pursing her lips.

"But you would get to read in peace over there," Yang reasoned with a grin.

It was a slight nod of her head that accompanied her contemplating the idea. She looked in favor. "And you?"

"I'll go with you," she simply offered.

"And do what? Sit there and watch me read?"

"That doesn't sound bad at all."

Blake raised an eyebrow with obvious skepticism. " _Really_?"

It really didn't sound bad; she liked watching Blake. But she knew anyone in their right mind would get dreadfully bored with watching someone else while they read, and she simply shrugged. "I'm actually really down for a nap, I didn't end up sleeping much because of that game my dad got me," she explained. "So we could tell the nurse I'm sick, you just sit at my bedside and read?"

"Hmm."

That was a consenting hmm if Yang knew her partner at all. She felt a grin stretch her features. "Come on," she urged, grabbing her hand. As she did so, she noticed she still hadn't put her glove back on; the way Blake's fingers felt as they laced with hers made her consider never wearing gloves again.

* * *

The nurse's office was bathed in orange light when Yang opened her eyes again, forcing her to acknowledge she'd been much more tired than she'd thought. Glancing to her side let her notice her intended caregiver was crumpled in her chair, asleep, book on the floor. The brawler sat up, looking on fondly at her friend. Blake was terribly cute. And she also looked to be in a terrible position to sleep – she was sure to strain her neck sleeping like this. In an effort to prevent the anticipated discomfort, Yang carefully gathered her in her arms and moved her incredulously light frame into the bed with her. It was by no means the first time she held her this way, she'd caught her in fights and carried her around more times than she could count, but she nevertheless was unfailingly amazed with her weightlessness.

Yang propped her elbow up to rest her head in her hand as she laid on her side next to her partner, looking down on her. Blake's usually sharp and somewhat guarded expression instead relaxed into peaceful slumber was a sight she'd always enjoyed, and she took advantage of the opportunity to lengthily take it in. Eventually, her gaze drifted down to observe her entire form, led on by her previous musing over her remarkable featherlike weight. Her uniform fit her well, but it nevertheless somewhat hid details of her shape—all but her long, _long_ , slender legs. Yang bumped her thigh to hers for comparison. She wouldn't have needed to do so to know her own were much thicker, but it was still intriguing to actually _see_ them next to the other. It was impressive how their respective fighting styles truly reflected on how it'd conditioned their bodies; Yang's raw power put different demands on her body than Blake's stealth lethalness. The blonde wondered if, had she from the start opted for a fighting style along the same lines as her partner's, her own body would look as weightless and elegant.

Her eyes drifted back up, to her waist, to the size of her torso. Yang quickly decided that it couldn't have been. Had she aimed for it, she still would _never_ have had Blake's grace. After all, Blake's bone structure was daintier and her propensity for muscle gain looked to be much less than Yang's. Plus, she didn't carry as much extra in the chest area the way Yang did, so that definitely helped her cause too. Which, now that she was looking, Yang felt herself frowning. How the hell did they keep such a nice shape with her lying on her back like that?

Somewhat offended, she turned her gaze to her own, in her décolleté. She'd stripped herself of her blazer, vest, and ribbon and had undone a couple of buttons of her white uniform blouse for the sake of comfort when she'd gotten ready to nap. It was open enough that she could see a bit of her own cleavage, which _clearly_ had more sag. It was to be expected with their size, but she was still just a bit slighted. And she couldn't help but wonder if that was how her partner's body _was_ , or if maybe Blake simply was wearing a better-quality bra.

With a sigh, she returned her gaze from her own chest back to her friend, letting it drift up more again. Her eyes stopped on the red ribbon around her neck. As she'd removed her own to get comfortable to sleep, she now couldn't help feeling a bit stifled for the other woman, and she found herself slowly pulling on the red string to carefully slide it out of her collar. Discarding it exposed how her white shirt was properly done up to the very last button. Yang didn't think much of it as she started undoing the buttons to liberate her neck for comfort. That was at least until being served with a privileged view onto her cleavage brought her to a pause. She suddenly felt incredibly energized, but she couldn't tell what made her blood course this way.

"Are you undressing me?" Blake's sleepy voice drew her attention.

"Yeah," Yang shamelessly admitted, feeling herself grin.

"How audacious of you," her friend noted, not opening her eyes.

A short laugh escaped her. "In my defense, it was only so you'd be more comfortable to sleep."

Blake's eyes cracked open just barely long enough to glance down at herself. She then dropped her head back heavily on the pillow. "A button or two would've been enough for that, wouldn't it?" she gave quite flatly. "This makes it look like you had ulterior motives."

She didn't know why she found herself disclosing this, but this admission passed her lips before she properly thought it through. "I was actually also wondering what brand and model of bra you were wearing, to be totally honest."

The sort of aggrieved but resigned frown that took over as she still remained eyes closed made it look like she might not want to ask, but she still did. "…And why would you ever?"

"Because mine really pool when I lie on my back even if I'm wearing a good bra. And yours sorta mostly kept their shape," she readily explained.

"What, so you thought you'd take a peek?"

"No, actually, I think I lost track of what I was doing as I was doing it and ended up like this," she admitted.

There was a pause in which Blake probably evaluated her response. "So?" she eventually asked. "What _do_ you think of what I'm wearing?"

Violet orbs drifted to the exposed skin of her neck, clavicles and little cleavage that was exposed. Yang didn't know why she had to swallow before she was able to speak again. "I can't see yet, I'd need to go down another button or two," she quietly told her.

Blake hummed in acknowledgement, neither discouraging her to do it nor sanctioning her to go ahead.

Finding herself completely still, the blonde realized that she was _actually_ deliberating if it'd be okay for her to. Because now she wanted to see. She knew it was nothing but curiosity, which had _also_ been magnified through Blake's own fault when she inquired about her opinion, but Yang was rather disconcerted to grasp that she in fact _really_ wanted to see. She wanted to open her shirt and… see.

But it'd be weird, wouldn't it?

…Though speculating on a reversed situation, Yang found she'd undeniably be completely fine with it were Blake to take it upon herself to unbutton her own shirt for whatever reason. And the image of something like that happening made her warm up in-... In… what was likely embarrassment? It probably was, what else could it be?

Anyhow, she quickly brushed it off and moved her hand down slowly, her fingers finding the button that was the last safeguard before Blake's chest and bra were exposed. Golden eyes finally fluttered open. She gazed up at her with a gleam in them that Yang couldn't recognize. It made heat flare in her skin, her brain fizzled out and her fingers stayed on that button. In a rare instance, Yang couldn't tell what the emotion rising from her chest and warming her all over was. It wasn't _just_ embarrassment, what with the bizarre sense of anticipation that made her heart rate skyrocket.

She told herself… it was probably the thrill of the challenge that made her feel so pumped and hot. This wasn't too different from a game of chicken and she wondered if Blake was simply testing her nerve in a sort of unspoken dare. Still, Yang felt the back of her neck overheat and found it was hard to control her breathing. She took back her hand as she felt it might've started quivering a bit.

"Not this time?" Blake noted.

"You get to preserve your modesty for now," she pompously declared, flustered and unnerved with having faltered. "But next time, I'm having my way with you," she boldly added, not quite certain why she was saying this. Probably to save face after backing down from the dare? Yeah, that had to be it.

"That's fine," she imperturbably gave.

It had to be because the chances of something even remotely like this happening again were close to zero, and in the unlikely event that something similar _did_ arise, Blake didn't think Yang would dare that time either, that she so indolently acquiesced. Her dismissal only seemed to make the brawler feel more challenged. "I'm not kidding," she warned.

"Me neither."

Yang pursed her lips. Her partner kept an impassive expression, which absolutely indicated that she either truly didn't believe the blonde would… or that really, she genuinely didn't care enough to oppose her. Incidentally, she noticed Blake's gaze slowly drift down her neck to gaze at what skin her unbuttoned shirt exposed. The faunus then quickly caught herself and closed her eyes again with a quiet sigh. Yang wondered if her partner somehow had felt challenged back, if maybe Blake had thought of reaching out and popping a couple of buttons of the brawler's shirt in retaliation, to show she had more nerve.

Or maybe that talk had made her curious about what Yang herself was wearing?

Though… Yang wouldn't have been surprised if it was neither. After all, she'd already witnessed countless times before how Blake's gaze would occasionally linger on her chest. That she did so right now wasn't anything unusual. It never bothered her; Yang knew very well her bust was pretty much impossible _not_ to notice, she couldn't in all fairness fault anyone for taking notice, so of course she'd never thought twice about it. And yet, the way Blake had sighed after stealing a glance had the brawler think twice this time around. Was it that the faunus wished her own were larger? Yang couldn't fathom why she would want to change anything to her looks though, Blake's body was just _perfect_. Blake might not have thought so, but Yang certainly did think so, and she found herself contemplating out loud: "If we could switch bodies, would you?"

Blake seemed surprised and looked up to her again. "You mean forever or for a day?"

Yang dropped her head on the pillow instead of having it propped up in her hand. "Either."

"I'd do a day without hesitation," she said, turning on her side to be facing her without straining her neck.

"What, you wouldn't want to be me any longer than a day?" she teased.

At this, her partner's features stiffened with odd dismay. "That's not it _at all_ ," she interjected so earnestly that it took the brawler by surprise. "I'd do a day because it'd be an interesting experience, but I want you to remain _you_. You need your own body for that."

"I'd still be me in another body," she proposed.

"I don't care," Blake swiftly objected. "I don't want to change you."

Yang didn't know why her heart rate skyrocketed the way it did. "It's just the way we'd look that'd change," she nevertheless reiterated.

"I know, but..." Her expression told how clearly adverse to the idea she remained. Maybe it was so Yang would stop hypothesising, maybe it was to emphasize how uncompromising she was about this, but in a rare display of physical intimacy, she gently cupped her cheek, successfully mesmerizing her to a standstill. "I… like the way you are," Blake divulged, and something very fond, very _tender_ emerged in her gaze. Her fingers drifted to slowly push some of the blonde bangs that'd strayed on her cheek back into the brawler's messy mane. "Just as you are," she quietly added.

And Yang was so completely enthralled, _spellbound_ that she couldn't process what was happening within herself. She had the impulse for something she had no brainpower to grasp; all that was truly clear was that she wanted to lean closer to her, be closer to her. She wanted to lean in and close her eyes and… probably she wanted to hug her? But she didn't dare move, because she wanted her to keep caressing her hair and cheek the way she was doing.

Blake's fingers eventually trailed down, and she rested her palm on her shoulder, her gaze giving into something a little pained. "And I certainly wouldn't want you to be stuck in my body and be subjected to the discrimination faunus face," she added. "That's not something you need to experience, not even for a day."

What aching yearning she felt for her friend was hard to put into words. The prejudice hadn't been something Yang had considered at all, and she was both moved that her partner would be so thoughtful to want to spare her pain, and also driven to want to lift her spirits. "That's not true," she disputed, "at least for a day, I'd like to know. If I knew first hand, then it'd give me a clearer picture of why you made the choices you have. Like… about the White fang, or your bow," she quietly explained. "I _want_ to understand you, Blake." At this, Blake's featured softened from their grim despondency to something more akin to yearning affection. Yang smiled fondly in return, yet it quickly turned bit mischievous. "And come on. How cool would it be for me to experience having an _actual_ extra body part that that I'd get to move. It'd be dope to try those cat ears," she pointed out. "Oh, seeing in the dark? And what else?"

The bow on her head twitched. "There's hearing too," Blake offered. "From what I understand most of us have much better hearing than humans, whether we have two sets of ears or not."

"What, seriously? Are all your senses better then?"

"I don't know about _all_ ," she dismissively answered, offering no further observation. Instead, she scrutinized her curiously. "Would faunus senses be what's of most interest to you about being in my body?"

Yang hummed pensively. "I don't know, trying out someone else's semblance would be pretty high on the list too," she contemplated, "but I guess for all that, just switching bodies with any faunus would do," she mused. With this, her features stretched into a wide grin. "While being specifically in _your_ body, the most interesting part would totally be starting at myself in the mirror for hours on end and grabbing my own ass," she laughed.

"How are you so obsessed with my butt," she balked.

"I'm not _obsessed_."

"No, you are," Blake maintained.

Okay, maybe she was just a _tiny_ bit, but who could blame her, seriously?! "Maybe I just need to touch it to get over it."

Her partner seemed aghast she'd dared propose this. "If it'll help you get over it, go ahead," she nevertheless answered.

Yang jolted in surprise. "Really?!"

And Blake squinted her eyes dubiously. "Are you _excited_ about it?"

Was she? Hadn't it been more in astonishment and shock that she'd reacted? She stared back at her friend with round eyes. Though she _did_ want to try groping it, so it might in fact truly have been excitement.

By then, Blake looked outright appalled. "I take it back. Keep your hands to yourself."

There was no way she was letting the chance pass by her. "What if we trade?" Yang offered.

This had her pause, her features evened out with puzzled attentiveness. "...What did you want to trade?"

Without skipping a beat, she latched onto what looked like an opening. "Anything is fine, I'll let you do whatever you want in exchange."

It was only for a second or two, but Blake's expression morphed with an odd mix of emotions – troubled, incredulous and…? _Eager_ …? Was that possible? Probably not, because why would she be? But then it was gone before Yang could truly pinpoint if that had been it, and the faunus remained engrossed in her pondering, which lasted a solid minute.

"Anything?" Blake eventually confirmed.

"Sure," Yang gave without skipping a beat.

"You didn't properly think about what you're offering," she reproached. "You're saying… _anything_? Really, you'd let me do _anything_?"

Puzzled, she felt a small frown take over. "...I just can't think of anything you might come up with that I'd be uncomfortable with," she admitted. Because really, what was the worst she could ask? Yang had already let her touch her hair, which was the one thing she was really fussy about. And it wasn't like Blake would ask to hurt her either, right? Not that Yang couldn't take pain if Blake _did_ want to do something painful, which would still be understandable if she was curious about her semblance. So what else could Blake realistically want? "I mean, I trust you and I'm comfortable with you. I know you wouldn't seriously hurt me or anything, and outside of that, I _really_ can't think of anything that you might possibly ask for that I wouldn't be okay with."

Her gaze remained on her for another extended moment, until she ultimately turned on her back again to look on to the ceiling. "I don't have anything I want to do," she claimed, and even had it not been from the way she'd triple-checked, the odd way she'd undeniably perked up at the suggestion still had told a different story.

"Come on don't be shy," Yang urged, certain her partner already had something in mind. "It can't be that embarrassing," she teased.

"It's not because I'm embarrassed," Blake defended, yet her cheeks unambiguously turned several shades redder. "There's just nothing I can think of."

"Bullshit, you're getting flustered."

She threw her an agitated glare. "Because you assumed that I'd think of something embarrassing!"

"Fair, okay," she acknowledged, deciding to let that one go. "But I don't believe you that there's nothing you can think of. You should've seen your face when I told you I'd let you do anything."

Her ears pulled so much on her bow as they flattened that it started to come undone. "I just—I was stunned that you'd offer something like that like I wouldn't abuse it," she defended.

"But you wouldn't," Yang flatly countered, unwaveringly confident. "And anyways, there really isn't anything you could want that I wouldn't be fine with."

Blake's manner progressed to bizarrely cramped, like she didn't know what to do with herself. "…Do you really trust me this much?"

She scrunched her face in confusion— was her best friend implying she _shouldn't_ trust her? "What, did you want to hurt me?"

"No!"

"Then what _do_ you want?" she pressed with a laugh. "I _know_ you thought of something, so don't try to bullshit me by saying you didn't."

The so very uncertain look that took over the dark haired faunus's features made her look incredibly vulnerable, and Yang almost felt bad to pressure her. But she didn't want her to feel like she needed to hold anything back from her either… plus, she had to admit she was terribly curious.

The stress it generated in her nevertheless had the porcelain tone of her skin take on a greying shade, making her look even paler, maybe even like she was going to be sick. "It doesn't matter. It's not something I could just _ask_ ," Blake now said.

"Hey, I'm asking to touch your butt, you know?" she reminded her. "I'm pretty sure you can ask anything."

"But you're shameless," she griped.

"Oh, and? Shouldn't that make it easier for you to throw shame out the window too?"

"No, because it still wouldn't be fair," she argued ambiguously.

"Fair?" she repeated, finding this one a particularly weird choice of a word. Blake didn't seem to like that she picked up on it. "You feel like what I'm offering isn't worth the price you'd pay?"

"Nooo," she uneasily groaned under her breath, apparently still hell-bent on holding onto her silence.

So, Yang followed where that logically led. "Then… are you saying letting me molest your butt would…" she trailed off as she realized where that brought her. "Are you saying it'd be little compared to what you would do to me?" she unsurely tried, a frown taking over her features. As she attempted racking her brain for what options remained, one possibility started to emerge; that maybe… what had gone through her friend's mind was… more intimate even than what Yang was asking of her. A sudden, intense pulse reverberated through her body to make her mind go completely blank. She couldn't seem to venture thinking further. Or maybe she didn't _want_ to? Something like _that_ wasn't possible after all, was it? "Blake, just tell me already," she pressed, now legitimately disconcerted.

The faunus _had_ to have sensed the anxious urgency that started to seep in her partner's bones because she immediately gave in. "I want to do the aura link," she blurted, glancing to her. "The bonding exercise—I want to do that again."

How completely unexpected this was had confounded her into vacant silence, forgetting her previously downward spiraling speculation. "That's all?" she plainly questioned, so puzzled. "You were reluctant to ask for that?" she confirmed. With the way her partner suddenly didn't appear so restless and apprehensive anymore, Yang couldn't help wondering if that really had been what she'd meant to ask or if she'd ended up finding another answer to offer her.

Blake exhaled shortly, her entire disposition visibly settling from her previously escalating unease. "Because it left us both with this… sense of loss," she explained awkwardly. "It was draining and personal, and... It made us both feel really uncomfortable, restless and unwell for some time. It's hard to ask you for this when I know you'll feel this horrible afterwards."

This explanation clarified everything. It made a lot of sense, Yang didn't know why she'd let herself start thinking that maybe her partner was hiding something else. "I don't mind," she smiled. Certainly, the aftermath of the link wasn't the most pleasant, but in the same way the prospect of a hangover wouldn't be enough for most party-goers to refrain from drinking, the trade-off here, the unparalleled feeling of… _wholeness_ as Blake's aura melded with hers was well worth the subsequent discomfort. In fact, she was delighted to be able to have the opportunity again. "Which way did you want to do it?"

With the way she'd taken an interest in Yang's blouse to avoid meeting her gaze, and the way her lips had tightened in a small dot, Blake looked adorably coy. Her half-undone bow twitched and her fingers had found the fabric of her own skirt to smooth non-existent wrinkles. "I… want to be in your aura again," she murmured.

"I'm down," she said, and with this, habit took over with a smirk. "I loved having you inside me."

Her gaze snapped up to her. "Don't say it like that," she reproached.

"Why, it's not as weird as if you were a guy," the blonde laughed.

Blake had a judgemental look of semi-horror. "Because if I were a guy, you'd _still_ say stuff like that to me?"

If Blake was a guy?

Yang's initial gut reaction was a vehement aversion to the idea. Because after all, had Blake been a guy, she couldn't fathom how they'd ever have been able to grow so close, and she abhorred the idea of not sharing this closeness with her. Plus Yang would have hated to have been followed in that forest the day they'd become partners, and it'd have started their partnership on the wrong foot.

But then again… maybe guy-Blake wouldn't have felt the need to find someone with whom he'd feel _safe_. He might not have wanted to be with her for those reasons, so he might not have followed her at all.

Or. He might not have followed her for those reasons, but… maybe for _other_ reasons.

It wasn't farfetched to speculate there might've been attraction, the blonde bombshell knew how she'd get ogled. And on her own part… Violet eyes dropped down from her friend's features to her body, and heat quickly spread in her skin. Even as a woman Blake was so mind-blowingly gorgeous, Yang would be dumbstruck into admiring awe from time to time… so chances were that she'd be a very attractive guy too. Would they have been a couple, had Blake been a guy?

Something knotted itself in her stomach at the thought, and it wasn't a nice knot. She just didn't like the idea of Blake being different. Even if it was to be a gorgeous guy and a fantastic boyfriend, the trade-off wasn't even the tiniest bit appealing. After all, her partner was who she was because she was a woman. It mattered as much as the fact that she was a faunus. It played into what life experiences she'd had and how they shaped her, it played into her mannerisms and her preferences, it likely played into the fighting style she chose – her entire personality might've been extremely different had she been a man. And Yang reviled all that. She wanted _this_ Blake, with her, by her side. She wouldn't trade her in for any other version.

Yet the question here hadn't been whether or not she would've preferred Blake as a guy, and she had to answer the question that was raised to her. "I don't know. I think I might've still told you stuff like that even if you were a guy," she mused.

"Despite the connotations?"

Yang smirked. "If I would, it'd be _especially_ because of the connotations."

"So, you might've been coming onto me if I were a guy?" Blake ended up asking, and somehow, she looked a bit reticent. Like maybe she didn't really want to know.

"Don't I anyways?" she shot back, grinning wider.

Her friend swatted her arm lightly. "I want to know if you would seriously."

"I don't know, I mean, our relationship would be so different," she pointed out, not really keen on answering. She didn't want to tell her she hated the idea of her as a man.

Her features softened to something pensive. "That's true."

Yang propped her elbow up with her head in her hand again. "Also, I wouldn't want to make it weird, you know? I couldn't just flirt with a male partner the way I do with you right now. It's weird if there's interest, and it's even weirder and awkward if there's no interest."

"Interest on which part?"

"…On either, I guess," she found herself answering. She'd been so absorbed in trying to sort out her own feelings about a male version of her partner that she'd never even stopped to think about what if _he_ wasn't into _her_. And the thought he might not was inexplicably upsetting. Yang started down at her. "You'd be into me if you were a guy, wouldn't you?"

She gazed up at her, undeniably a little amused. "I don't know. I might."

The blonde sat up at once. "What do you mean, you _might_?!" She exclaimed animatedly, still smiling through her indignation. "Who else?! I'll fight her!"

Blake gave a candid laugh. "So that's how it is?"

"That's totally how it is," Yang decided—there was no way she was giving up Blake, _any_ version of Blake, to anyone else. Not without a fight.

"So you _would_ be into me," the faunus confirmed.

Immobile for a second, she took in the stunning sight of her lying on her back with her jet black, luscious hair draped messily on the pillow and of her inquisitive, gleaming golden gems peering up at her. How absurdly beautiful she was. Yang found herself wondering how anyone _wouldn't_ be into her. "Yeah," she conceded. "Assuming that guy-Blake would be just as fantastic and sexy as you."

Her eyebrows went up and what was left of her bow stiffened. Blake, with her cheeks so adorably pink, nevertheless looked uncertain. "You think I'm _sexy_?"

And Yang was truly puzzled with the way her partner looked so bewildered. "Is there anyone who _doesn't_?" That was a genuine question. Everyone who could see would see how sexy she was, so how was she this surprised?

"Stop that."

Yang laughed again, lying back down next to her, on her stomach this time around, but still propped up on both elbows. "Why are you embarrassed? It's just a fact."

Blake squinted her eyes critically, crossing her arms. "It's not a fact. You're biased because we're friends."

 _Biased_? Did she _not_ see she was objectively gorgeous? The brawler stared down at her blankly. "I don't care if you don't believe me, I'm right."

"You only think so because you're my friend," Blake insisted. "It's been proven that when we enjoy someone's company, it warps our perception and they look better to us than they actually do."

"Okay," Yang wouldn't argue with the science. "Maybe you somehow look even better to me _now_ , but I still couldn't believe my eyes how pretty you were the first time I saw you."

"Stop saying stuff like that," she muttered in disapproval.

She felt a grin nag at the corner of her lips. "Why? Singing your praises is one of my favorite hobbies."

Blake pursed her lips in disapproval. "What if I was like that about you?" she suggested. "Wouldn't you be uncomfortable?"

The golden girl hummed in reflection, finding herself smiling. "Probably I'd be a bit embarrassed, but I mean…" She shifted her position to be lying on her side, gazing on at the elegant outline of her profile. If someone as strikingly beautiful as Blake kept complimenting her, it'd boost her ego into exasperatingly vain territory. "If you really thought what you'd say, if you meant your compliments, I'd be thrilled."

The dark haired faunus glanced her way. She then slowly turned on her side for her body to be facing hers again. "How could I _not_ mean compliments? Have you seen yourself?"

It unexpectedly left her stumped; Yang now dumbly stared at her friend, feeling her face quickly grow hotter.

Blake's lips twitched into a small smile. "Not as cheeky when put on the spot, are you?"

She sucked in her lips embarrassedly, unable to produce an answer. How could her friend have so much sway on her? She hadn't even directly complimented her and here she was, overwhelmed into stillness.

Her ears perked enough that one of them poked out of the half-undone bow. "It's seriously all it took to get you tongue-tied?" she noted in awe. "Yang, you're getting so red."

Pointing it out only made it worse. "Shut up," she defensively muttered.

"I would've never guessed you were so vulnerable to this," she mused, her expression growing undeniably mischievous. And why the hell did it make her look sexier? "Think I can get you even redder?"

Now at _that_ suggestion, she felt like her _body_ was glowing with her blush. "You don't need to try."

"Oh, but I will."

Her entire being came to a stop. The way Blake had said that was so… terrifyingly alluring. And now Yang felt so powerless, so _defenseless_ , she couldn't move, she couldn't look away, she couldn't make a sound, she couldn't even _breathe_. And Blake's lips curled up.

Her fingers found the rigid part of the collar of the brawler's white shirt, rearranging it more neatly. "How about I start by telling you how sexy _you_ are?" she suggested quietly.

The gleam in those golden eyes was entrancing and heat spread through every inch of Yang's skin like she was being set on fire, like she was melting, like her blood was boiling. "You're such a liar," she blurted. "You said you couldn't flirt."

"But I'm not flirting," she alleged.

"You are!"

"No, I'm just stating facts," Blake professed, echoing Yang's earlier declaration and making it crystal clear that she was relishing in serving her with a taste of her own medicine. Her hypnotizing gaze stayed steadily on hers. "I can't believe how embarrassed you're getting with me only parroting back what _you_ told me in the first place."

"It's because I'm not used to you saying things like that is all," the blonde defended, scrambling to explain her complete loss of means. "There's only so much you can parrot back anyways," she then huffed.

Blake fixedly stared. "Then let's talk about whether you intended on groping my butt through my skirt or under it," she gave without skipping a beat, successfully mortifying her. Blake held her gaze for a second before it flickered down; Yang had rolled up the sleeves of her uniform shirt before her nap and now Blake was taking full advantage of the exposed skin to slowly drift her fingers on her exposed forearm. It was such a light touch and yet it sent shivers down the brawler's spine. Yang was transfixed with watching the way her long black lashes half-lidded her eyes as she was gazing downwards, watching her own fingers on her arm. Blake still didn't look up as she asked: "Did you want to touch my skin?"

Yang needed a second to register what she'd asked her. Blake's entrancing gold snapped back up to hers and her heart jumped in her throat with it. "I j—uh. Uh. H-had no plan…" she dumbly managed. Had her brain fried?

The faunus hummed in response. Holding her partner's complete and undivided attention, she shifted closer. Close enough that Yang could feel her body heat. Her thigh had edged a bit more forward somewhere along the way and it now brushed against the brawler's, her foot idly inching against hers. "Well then. Did you have a plan that time you asked me where I wanted to lick you?" Blake questioned, her voice so quiet. "Maybe we should talk about that?"

Why did she _ever_ say that? It had passed her lips before she'd realized what she was saying, and Yang had been shocked with her own words. Never before had she said anything of the sort to anyone else, not as a joke, not even when she was _serious_. She didn't know, when, how, or why her filter had been obliterated and she was genuinely disconcerted with how liberally she found herself always pushing limits to new, impudent heights with her partner.

Yang opened her mouth to try and defend herself, but she found she needed air so much that she sharply inhaled instead. It made her notice how unaware she'd been about what had been happening in her skin, in her chest, in her body… all of it in response to her words and her touch.

"Or maybe talking isn't necessary," Blake murmured, her fingers tracing the exposed skin between Yang's thigh high socks and her skirt. "We both know what you were implying."

Her heart was about to tear itself out of her chest, Yang sat up at once. She shakily pressed her hands to her face, pushing back her bangs into her mane for a second as she did her best to get a hold of herself, realizing how _hot_ she'd gotten. She'd… been getting _turned on?_ What the hell!?

…Was it because it'd been a while since she'd last had sex? Were her hormones _this_ ramped up, and yet she hadn't even noticed? Or was it all only because it'd been a while since someone even tried flirting with her? Was this why she couldn't hold her own, why she got this flustered and bothered by this sort of attention, even if it'd been nothing but retaliation on Blake's part?

Or was it maybe also because… Blake was just _so_ beautiful she simply could make anyone weak?

Yang let out a silent, shuddering breath, trying to ward off the inappropriate sensations that had indubitably started to surface, and then ventured a glance down at her best friend. Which she right away realized hadn't been a good idea; she _definitely_ hadn't completely recovered, because her heart skipped a beat when she met her gaze again.

And Blake stared up at her in what might have looked to anyone else to be an impassive expression, but Yang found there were underlying traces of something she couldn't quite put her finger on. "Is something wrong, Yang?"

 _Yes_? – or wait … no? She had no idea. Something definitely felt strange. But was something wrong with herself? She couldn't tell how she felt about what she'd started feeling. "I don't know," she blankly admitted.

A twinge of glumness surfaced in her gaze, and the blonde ventured thinking it might've been because her friend regretted pushing it. "Was that too much?"

It'd obviously been! She hadn't been able to rise up to the challenge, she hadn't even been able to handle the _very first_ onslaught. But Yang was loathe to admit it and she just turned her back again, sitting fretfully in silence with no idea how to get over it.

The faunus didn't leave her time to recover. "You dish it out, but you can't take it," she flatly accused.

"I could if it was someone else, but it's not the same with you," she heard herself argue.

"Why?"

"I don't know," she groaned, shifting half-way around to sit without having to strain to look back at her. It was easier to hold her gaze this time around, but still not… normal. She managed to swallow some awkwardness down and speak. "Maybe because… more often than not you're so aloof and deadpan and I—I don't know," she breathed vacillatingly. "And you just…" she attempted. "I don't know, Blake, you're— …" There was no going around it. All she could really come up with to explain it all was that… Blake was simply surreally beautiful, and it was so completely disarming.

"I'm what?"

Though she usually would've _readily_ praised her looks, given what mortifying effect it'd had on her… Yang couldn't this time around. "Never mind," she sighed. "You win."

Blake gently bumped her shin to her. "What do I win?"

"My conceding you're the superior flirt isn't enough?"

"No."

"What can I offer then?"

She didn't even take a second to think; it seemed her partner had been lying in wait for the opportunity to ask her this. "I want a ride to town this weekend," she demanded. "I've been meaning to go to the bookstore for ages."

The words escaped her through force of habit, "A date with you isn't a penalty, Blake."

"It's not a date," she denied, benevolent enough not to take the bait and pick up the flirting with a revenge. "You're my chauffeur."

"Right," she laughed, feeling like she was relaxing again. "I'd love to take you," she fondly acquiesced.

Blake in response gave a satisfied hum before closing her eyes. Yang took the opportunity to admire her again. Being able to do so freely without being self-conscious of her staring back or her being too mindful of it was really appeasing. Violet drifted from her doll-like features down her body, to her long, slender legs, or rather, her exposed thighs. Yang wondered if the other woman would manage to remain stoic if she caressed her thigh the same way Blake had just done to her. Finding out was exceptionally tempting and yet the odds of toppling into another escalating flirting contest were not. Because Blake's skill was just terrifying, and Yang still didn't know how to digest what had gone down. She brought her attention back to her friend's features. "Do you have anything else planned this weekend?"

Her eyes remained closed. "Besides reading the new acquisitions I intend to make? No."

"While we're in town, did you wanna grab something to eat and go to the movies after you're done shopping?"

"Sure."

Yang dropped herself back on the mattress, facing her friend. "So it _is_ a date," she shot back with a grin.

Blake's eyes fluttered open and she gazed at her for a second. "If you're _insisting_ it's a date," she impassively allowed, "does this mean you're going to dress up?"

She cocked her head interestedly. "Do you want me to?"

"Yes."

If Blake's intention was to escalate the stakes to intimidate her into taking back the word 'date', she'd gravely underestimated her. "If you think I won't, you're sorely mistaken."

Her partner remained impressively unconcerned. "I'd love to see you ride your bike in a skirt and heels."

The image elicited a laugh from her. "Yeah, no skirt," Yang agreed. "I can still rock shorts with heels and look bomb though."

"You can indeed," Blake commented.

She felt her face grow warmer and a foolish smile insisted on stretching her features– it was somewhat pathetic how she couldn't keep her cool when her partner complimented her. And she was already starting to think up what outfit she should wear, absolutely planning on wowing her, hoping for more praise. She wondered if Blake might do the same? "Are you going to dress up too?"

Her uncovered cat ear twitched. "You wouldn't be able to handle it if I did," she nonchalantly claimed.

"That might be true," she acquiesced with a smirk. But the thought of her feline partner getting dolled up gave her heart a manifestly sweet flutter and she felt her grin rapidly soften to a candid smile. "Can you anyways?"

The genuineness in her tone visibly gave Blake pause and she glanced her way before she asked, "It'd make you happy?"

"Honestly, yeah."

Blake gave a gentle sigh. "Alright."

Was it a chore to? The way she seemed to resign herself to it disheartened the brawler a bit. "You don't _have_ to," she reassured.

Shaking her head, the bow finally undid itself completely. She didn't seem to mind it. "I feel like I'm constantly shooting you down or turning you away, it's the least I can do if it'll make you happy," she explained.

Her chest swelled with joy. "You're the best."

"Not really," the dark haired woman dryly contested. "I really don't know how you like me so much."

Rolling from the way she was lying on her side to lie on her stomach, propped up on her elbows, had her bump her entire side of her body to Blake's, who was still on her back. "You need me to tell you again?" she chirped, ready to go on a new eulogizing rant.

"No thanks. I'm not really up for another serenade," she said, watching her invade her bubble. "It's embarrassing how you leave me speechless every time."

Yang grinned, bumping her hip to hers playfully. "So you _know_ why I like you so much."

Blake's expression softened the way it only very rarely did, like she'd forgotten to keep up her walls for a second. "...Yeah," she acquiesced, and the completely unguarded smile that brightened her features was such a beautifully genuine and uninhibited one that Yang got overwhelmed with the aggressive need to grab her. Which she instantly did, dropping herself on her like a puppy on its owner.

Halfway on top of her, with her legs still on her side of the mattress and her upper body over her, Yang gathered her tightly against herself, feeling in return the other woman's hands delicately rest on her lower back. It felt so comforting, so fulfilling, so _good_ to be in each other's arms this way, Yang did what came most naturally to her and laid a lingering kiss on her temple, enjoying immensely the scent of the dark hair. Blake's grip on her tightened almost imperceptibly and she buried her face in her shoulder. The delicate and warm cat ear against her cheek made her want to gnaw at it, but she held off on that one. Blake's heart was pounding violently against her chest, and Yang knew she was already pushing the limits of her friend's comfort with personal space as it was. But she just… loved her _so much_. Never in her life had she been remotely as close to any other friend—no, never with _anyone_ , not even with the guys she'd dated had she shared such intimacy. There was no other way to describe it other than Blake was simply her favorite person. So much so that she couldn't conceive how she could ever have something so precious with anyone else, or anything even akin to it. It made her wonder how any guy she'd meet could ever hold a candle to this. Did this mean she should forget about romance?

It was almost a surprise to hear her speak. "Would it be okay for me to do the aura link now?" she murmured.

"Go ahead."

As Blake shifted just slightly, Yang felt her exhale quietly; her breath warmed her neck and clavicles, and it was… extremely pleasant. Blake's hand burrowed between their bodies and her fingers tentatively pressed into the flesh of her torso just above her breasts as she felt for her heartbeat. This time again, the intrusive thought that she was almost groping her chest seemed to prevail over anything else.

And then she felt Blake's aura glide inside of her. It wasn't like the first time at all, it wasn't hostile or wary in any way. Blake evidently knew what to expect this time around, and she certainly didn't feel like an intruder this time either because what the brawler felt seep inside her chest was tender and familiar and… inviting. It pulled her in. It pulled her in such that instead of feeling like she was hosting a welcomed guest, it felt like the amount of aura her partner projected was being naturally traded with some of her own. Such that she didn't quite know if she was still entirely in her own aura or if she'd indeed started to project her own into her friend. It reminded her of how, the first time they'd attempted this, she'd had the impression Blake had projected back into her when she'd tried to withdraw, and she realized it all was just… happening. There was a two way bridge between them—or maybe 'bridge' wasn't quite right because there was no gap to bridge. Was that what Weiss was explaining when she said some people would share and mingle their …soul?

How incredibly beautiful was the feeling of being one with her. She was thoroughly relishing in it, such that it took her a long moment to notice how Blake seemed to simply be lingering there. She wasn't going any deeper, she wasn't reaching for the core of her energy. "Are you going to do the whole shebang and activate my aura too?"

Yang wouldn't have known she'd shaken her head no if it hadn't been burrowed in her the way it was. "I just…" she breathed, "I just wanted to…" she trailed off again, and her fingers on Yang's lower back curled into fists, gripping her shirt. "Your aura makes me feel at peace and… home," Blake admitted in a murmur. "So I wanted to experience that again. That's all."

The aching yearning she felt was indescribable. All at once Yang felt an overwhelming, all-consuming surge of—… it gave her pause, but she recognized it was love. She didn't know why she was disconcerted, Blake was her best friend after all, and she _did_ love her very much, as much as if she was family, undeniably more so than any other person she'd met. And for Blake to have _wanted_ to be with her this way, for her to have felt at home meant she probably also felt like she belonged… that she might even have longed for it all, and the notion filled Yang with such an ardent feeling of adoration and devotion, she ached to soothe her and welcome her even more.

Unexpectedly, what she felt seemed to be echoed from Blake's aura too, as it resonated in a powerful wave in return, and she remembered how diving in the other's aura gave them a door to what the other was feeling. Blake likely had sensed how her confession had made her feel, and in turn… this was how _she_ felt. What was coming through only felt to be getting bigger and bigger, to the point Yang wondered if somehow, she was confusing who's feelings were whose, if they all added up and it just seemed this immeasurable, or if the faunus… _truly_ felt this much love and yearning for her.

Yearning? It'd just started to emerge, but that's what it was wasn't it…? It was confusing. Was it... yearning for home?

Blake abruptly tore out.

All of a sudden Yang was harrowingly lonely, utterly miserable and so, _so_ cold. She was still lying halfway over her, but it was _cold_. It was a gash in her entire being and everything she could not to crumble and cry. "What happened?" she found her jaw was shaking, it was hard to talk. "What went wrong? Why did you leave?"

The faunus looked equally as distressed, her eyes were welled up full of tears and her cat ears were trembling. "I-I…I couldn't—I had to, I mean—…" she trailed off, raising a frightened gaze to her.

Yang couldn't process how it'd come to that. It'd been so agreeable, so serene and tender and _loving_ … She couldn't understand what had scared her into backing out the way she had. Except… the only thing she could think of was that, it stung, but the only thing she _could_ speculate was that somehow Blake wasn't comfortable with truly letting her in. She didn't want to show how deeply she cared, Yang had started to graze just that, and her partner hadn't felt ready for it.

Said partner looked like she was struggling to even breathe and, though she loathed to cut contact, Yang pushed herself up to give her some air. With the way she'd been half-lying over her, pushing herself up on both hands had her sitting next to her but still trapping her with one hand on each side of her head. She couldn't bring herself to completely free her. She couldn't for her own need to be close, and she couldn't because she was scared that she'd run out. Blake looked so distraught, so terrified, that she willed herself to swallow some of her own malaise to be there for her. Mustering all the composure she could, she tried in vain to catch her fretful gaze. "Hey, Blake, it's okay…"

"No, it's—I didn't think you'd—…" Her downcast cat ears were still quivering, it looked like she was going to be sick. "…I-I'm sorry."

" _Why_?" She couldn't tell for which part. For having torn out the way she had? For being this scared of opening herself? …For how she felt? Whatever it was, Yang hated that her friend was so panic-stricken over it. "Blake, it's okay!" she immediately asserted. "I know you care about me, you don't have to feel weird about baring that to me," she tried, hoping she put her finger on the issue

Her gaze snapped to hers. She looked wary and remorseful and Yang just wanted to make it better magically and be able to touch her because she felt like she was crumbling inside without her presence mingled to her.

"…That's why you cut off the link? Right?"

Blake closed her eyes and exhaled shakily. "…Something like that."

Yang wanted to touch her cheek, caress her hair, hold her hand, _anything_. The need for warmth and physical contact was even worse than last time. "You find it embarrassing to let others know you care?"

"No. That's not it," she said with a sigh. It looked like she was either aggravated or a budding headache was emerging.

"Then what happened?" She still pressed. She hated every time she found herself pressuring her for anything, and though, between her own discomfort and how miserable Blake looked, she felt downright atrocious to do so this time around… she was simply unable to let it go.

Blake, who'd finally started regaining control of herself, looked back up at her again. She really seemed averse to the idea of having to explain herself.

Yang kept both hands firmly planted on each side of her head; she wasn't backing down.

Eventually, the dark haired faunus looked away. Her eyes drifted towards the door. "It's just—it…" her features tightened again with apparent distress and heartache. "It's ugly," she finally said. "What was about to come through, it's… ugly. I can't share that with you."

" _Ugly_?" Yang couldn't conceive how she could ever think what she held inside of her, _especially_ something that had felt so amazingly tender, could be ugly. "Blake, nothing you—"

"I _can't_ , okay?" She snapped, manifestly on the verge of a meltdown. Her features softened as she heard her own tone, and though it still had an edge, her voice came much gentler. "Not this."

Disconcerted, the blonde felt herself deflating. She couldn't understand, but she knew trying to get anything more out of her would only succeed in upsetting her more. Blake simply wasn't ready, and it would only harm her trust. The memory of that drunken evening came to her, as Blake had sat on the cold tiles of the bathroom with her – how she'd agreed to, in time, when she felt ready, open up and let her in. Now was still not that time, and Yang decided she'd put her faith in that agreement and be patient.

"Okay," she yielded, her voice so quiet. Her hands curled into fists on each side of her head, she hoped her partner didn't notice. "If you can't, you can't."

With this, Blake seemed to finally unwind somewhat. Violet eyes still riveted on her and her body frozen in her towering position sequestering her, Yang felt her jaw tighten.

"But… Blake, just so you know… what I got from you just now, it felt really… _really_ … wonderful. I don't know how any part of it could be ugly."

She actually, _physically_ winced at her words. "You can say that only because you don't know," she murmured, her voice so troublingly pained.

And she'd wanted to leave her some air, some space, to search her features as she questioned her, but her plainly evident sorrow and utter misery broke through Yang's restraint and she _needed_ to hold her, both to assuage her own void and loneliness _and_ in an attempt to comfort her. She let herself down over her again, and the warmth of her body, the silkiness of her midnight hair against her cheek, the scent of it, it all sent shivers through her skin.

Blake gently pushed on her shoulder. "Don't do that."

"…What?"

She urged her further until Yang, chilled and distraught, let go and shrunk back some. "You can hug me, but don't get on top of me like that," Blake said, awkwardly extracting herself from under her to sit up. "Please. Don't do that."

It was the second time Blake ever rejected skinship. The brawler was a complete loss. The first time had been when she'd flinched away from her after that dream, the one that apparently hadn't been a nightmare, but back then Blake had been frantic and had only done so on impulse… not purposefully as she'd done now. Which… hurt.

It _hurt_.

Yang watched as her partner started doing up the buttons of her uniform shirt. She couldn't understand why it hurt so much—her vision was fogging up so much it hurt. "…Sorry, I didn't know it was problem," she unsteadily said, trying to shake it off. She had to focus her eyes on the black ribbon that'd been left on the pillow to help herself do so. It was completely stupid to feel like crying over your friend requesting you don't _climb on them_ — which they normally shouldn't even have to ask because it was weird to do in the first place. And yet she was miserable over it and all she could think of was that she'd done just that a couple of minutes ago -which had brought them to do the aura link- and Blake had been fine with it. She'd even hugged her back, at that point. Had the aura link done something? Or was it that Blake simply hadn't said anything earlier but it'd still bothered her? Was it whatever had driven Blake to break the link that had her being averse to the closeness? "You should've told me before that you didn't like it," she self-consciously mumbled, hazarding a peek at her.

Yang couldn't tell why she did, but for a half a second, Blake looked outright heartbroken. "It's not—…" but Blake stopped herself. Her gaze dropped to the mattress, to her hands curled into fists so tight as she gripped the bedsheets that her knuckles had turned white. She seemed to be holding her breath as she slowly turned away, one leg gliding off the bed to touch the ground as she did so. "Just… Don't worry about it," she gently murmured. "It's all on me."

The caring tone of her voice permeated Yang's skin with such warmth, she felt incomparable yearning for closeness again. Why was she feeling this way? It was so excruciatingly debilitating. She watched in silence as Blake slid the red uniform ribbon around her neck again and re-tied it into a meticulous bow before smoothing out her vest with both hands. Undoubtedly it had to be linking their aura that was messing her up this way, wasn't it? She _craved_ to touch her again, just _any_ touch, _anything_!

…But Blake had _just_ turned her away. And though she did say that it was fine if she wanted to hug her, the thought of being rejected again, or even if Blake were to stiffen at her touch, petrified Yang such that she couldn't find it in herself to reach out to her. She tried to rationalize that it had nothing to do with Blake being rebuffed by being touched by her. Of course it couldn't be that. There was something else, some other reason Blake had pushed her away. She wondered for a moment if it'd caused her pain or discomfort in anyway—maybe Blake liked the hug, but Yang was simply too heavy for comfort? Maybe it was because of the aura link? Or! Or maybe Blake was simply feeling ill – maybe, again, because of the link, or rather, the abrupt cut. Or maybe it was just as simple as… it was too hot in the room?

Blake turned to her, interrupting her plummeting train of thoughts. "We should get food while we still can," she indicated, standing up as she grabbed her black ribbon.

Indeed, it was getting late. If they wanted to able to grab something to eat before the cafeteria shut down for the evening, they really should be going soon. But as she watched Blake redo her bow, Yang rested her head back on the pillow. She wondered if her friend would ever feel like she could let down her walls, if she might ever freely open up about what troubled her, what weighted so much on her. She wondered what sort of trauma she'd experienced to have such a fortress of walls built around herself. She wondered how much she'd endured, what she'd been subjected to… if she'd had anyone to comfort her back then.

Had she opened up to anyone before? Had there ever been anyone else she'd felt more at ease with?

Yet… even if there hadn't been anyone else… Yang still was no different than all the others to Blake because she wasn't opening up to her either. She wondered then if… if maybe Blake ever _did_ eventually open up to anyone… if it'd be to a boyfriend, and not to Yang. Her chest tightened with venturing this speculation. She'd let Blake in _so far_ , she'd told her so many things she'd never even grazed with anyone before, she'd be ready and willing to tell her _anything_ Blake would want to know about her, and yet… Blake would not say a word about her thoughts, her feelings, her experiences, and her past. She felt her features contort slightly with the anguish she tried her best to suppress. The void within herself was abysmal.

The faunus had grabbed her blazer off the chair she'd left it on, but came to a halt before slipping it on, finally noticing her partner's inertness. "Are you coming?"

"Maybe I'll skip dinner," she quietly groused. "I'm not hungry."

At this, Blake seemed to become very still. Her penetrating golden eyes at once assessed the crumpled and disheartened form of her friend. "...Is this my fault?"

She _wished_ she'd been able to muster a smile, to pretend everything was fine, to tell her it wasn't and that they could grab something to eat and laugh it off. But she knew had she managed to put on a mask, Blake would have seen through it. And Yang yearned for her to want to drop all those walls just as much as she yearned to be comforted by her. Her dejected gaze stayed on the concerned golden one. "Yes and no," she acknowledged. "It's nothing. It's because of the aura link."

At this, the dark haired woman dropped her blazer back on the chair, and, to Yang's surprise, she climbed back into bed with her. She let herself down on her side facing her, holding her gaze with the kind steadfast resolve which Yang adored to see in her. "I'm not going to leave you in this state when I was the one who asked for the link and also the one who broke it so abruptly."

And just that was enough to make her feel choked up. She blinked back the fogginess and quietly mouthed, "Thank you."

Blake gave an almost imperceptible nod in acknowledgement and rested her hand on her upper arm. The contact was tremendously comforting, and, after all her ache and restrain, Yang ultimately couldn't help herself— out the window went all her worries about how she'd rejected her touch and she might again, out the window with her fear Blake might not completely welcome her, she _needed_ more to fill the void left within herself. Yang scooted closer and shrunk in to be able to lie her head just under her neck as she wrapped her arms around her. Though she didn't seem to have expected this, the faunus welcomed her, wrapping one arm around her shoulders and one around her head, holding it securely to her heart. Yang closed her eyes and sighed in contentment. Blake was smaller than she was and most definitely daintier, but her svelte frame was nevertheless that of a warrior and taking refuge in her arms remained amazingly comforting. Blake's chin leaning on top of her head, her delicate hands in her hair as she held her so reverently and tenderly, the slow rising and falling of her torso rocking Yang's head with her peaceful breathing, all of it felt unbelievably soothing and Yang found she was filled to the brim with invigoratingly positive energy, her heart soared and her mood was so massively _brighter_.

And with this, a more optimistic mood and clearer thoughts were brought to the surface. She felt a little guilty that she'd moped, that she had Blake feel like she needed to comfort her for stupid reasons. And yet she loved that her friend cared enough to have stayed. She loved how she held her like she was… fragile and precious. And she told herself… it didn't matter that Blake kept so many secrets about who she'd been and what she'd done. In the long run, it didn't truly matter that Yang didn't know all these things she admittedly longed to know about her. It didn't matter because she knew who Blake was right now. She knew the nobility and valor of her heart, and she'd _experienced_ the beauty of her soul for herself by exploring her aura. She knew what Blake stood for, she understood her beliefs, and she was familiar with even her tiniest quirks. She knew Blake _right now_ , and that mattered. And… she could feel just how enormously Blake cared, and that mattered most. So whatever Blake hid… she could accept never knowing. And she silently thanked whatever power was out there to have blessed her with her partner. Wait— it wasn't any sort of power out there that did that. Her eyes fluttered open. "Blake?"

"Hmm?"

"You said before that I'm your best decision," she murmured, pressing her cheek to her more keenly. "…I don't get to claim the same because I didn't get to choose you, but you _are_ the best thing to ever have happened to me."

Though she didn't answer, the faunus's heartbeat shot up drastically and the tension in her arms tightened, holding her head so much more securely to herself. Yang smiled to herself; this was answer enough for her. That, and the surge of affection she'd felt from Blake before the connection was broken. That had been indubitable proof that Blake _did_ care immensely for her, Yang had felt it as tangibly as she could feel her in her arms. She then noticed her partner's chest faintly trembling against her. It felt like…maybe she was crying? Or not 'maybe'. She was trying her best to suppress it, but as she crushed her against her chest, it was impossible for Yang not to notice. It probably shouldn't have surprised her; Yang's initial reaction to Blake having confessed something similar had also been to break down. Besides holding her a little tighter too, Yang decided to wait until she was able to her stifle her tears, she was trying so hard to.

"I really don't know how you like me so much," Blake eventually repeated, her voice strained with emotion.

And Yang found herself smiling again. "But you do, though," she whispered, nuzzling into her neck, wishing her friend hadn't re-buttoned her shirt so she could've felt her skin against her cheek and nose instead. "You _know_ why I love you," she asserted, breathing in her scent. She sighed contently. "…I love you," she repeated.

As expected, Blake didn't answer; she never did. But her heart rate did spike again, and Yang never could've imagined her partner would do that, but she felt her press her lips to the top of her head. It made her smile so widely that her cheeks hurt. And she just wanted to grip her and twirl her and crush her against herself. And then she remembered the pass she'd earned. Her hand on the small of Blake's back dropped to get a good feel of her butt.

"God _damn_ , Blake! It deserves its own religion."

 **-tbc**

 **small art of this chapter will be on my tumblr soon, I'll add a link when it's up :)  
**


	5. Chapter 5

Practical combat class today was focused on hand-to-hand combat. Or mostly… take-down and submission moves.

Blake hunched forward slightly, and it was enough to make Ruby flinch. Their team leader had a thousand and one moves when it came to creatively using her semblance, her weapon, her teammates for inventive team attacks, or a combination of the three; but, when left with only her four limbs, she wasn't that much more competent than a civilian.

"Don't be so tense, Ruby," she reassured.

"I'm tense?"

"Definitely."

Blake exhaled shortly. When it'd been time to pair up, the crimson-clad girl had latched onto her arm immediately. The faunus recalled tales of her own golden partner attempting to train her sister in hand to hand combat, and Ruby's dire efforts to avoid being partnered up with Yang spoke to how well that had gone. Meanwhile, seeing how powerlessly Weiss attempted to defend against the brawler also helped Blake understand why Ruby had so quickly turned to _her_ and not her self-proclaimed BFF. The heiress wasn't much better without her weapon than their leader was herself. There surely wouldn't have been much Weiss would have been able to teach Ruby. Hence the speed at which the short-haired girl had latched onto her.

It was a nice change of pace to be partnered up with other teammates, but... if there had been _one_ lesson Blake had looked forward to do with Yang, it was this one. After all, it was the one thing Yang was better at than _anyone_ else in their grade, more even surpassing Pyrrha, and Blake had been looking forward to learning a thing or two instead of finding herself teaching someone else.

The fact that Yang would have been pinning her down and pushing their bodies tightly together didn't play even the tiniest role in her disappointment at all.

"Unhand me!"

Weiss's voice drew Blake's attention again. The small lady was quite red in her contorted position.

"Are you even _trying_?"

Yang didn't look like she was straining even a little. Sure, there was some visible tension in her muscles as she kept her much smaller teammate firmly still, but Yang was just standing there, unmoving, and Weiss looked like a pretzel in her arms.

"Not everyone's built like an ogre," said pretzel hissed.

"Ow, thanks," the blonde laughed.

They'd captured Ruby's attention too. "You don't look like an ogre, Yang, you're gorgeous!" she pitched in.

"Thanks, Rubes," she chirped.

Weiss struggled harder. "I don't even know that the three of us together could take you down!"

Yang's eyes drifted from the white ball of a person in her arms to the dark duo, and her lips stretched into an uncontrolled grin. "That sounds fun."

Blake's ears twitched under her bow. Weiss had to be wrong; surely the three of them could manage the upper hand, right? Yang was remarkably strong, but she couldn't be so strong that _three_ huntresses in training would be powerless to triumph over her, right...?

Yang suddenly let go of Weiss, dropping her unceremoniously to the floor, her gaze still on the two of them. She had that unnervingly sexy and daring grin plastered on. Blake didn't feel turned on at all; the heat coursing her blood was only from the challenge, nothing else.

The brawler put her hands on her hips. "Get me on my back for three seconds and I'll do all of your chores for a week," she announced.

Out of the corner of her eye, Blake noticed her two friends glancing at each other.

"What if _you_ win?" Weiss cautiously countered, having scrambled back to the safety of her two dark-haired teammates.

"You each owe me a favor," Yang answered, her grin widening. "To be decided later."

"Deal," Ruby announced, though out of the three, she was the least qualified to challenge her sister. Blake wondered,; did Ruby truly believe that they could win, or did she just hate chores so much that she was ready to take the chance on owing Yang any mystery I.O.U.?

Though… weighing her options, Blake decided that no matter what favor Yang may decide to ask of her, it would likely have been something she'd have no problem doing for her, debt or no debt. Which meant: free chance at no chores. So indeed, she truly had nothing to lose.

Weiss glanced at Blake, who only offered her a _'why not?'_ sort of shrug. The heiress rolled her eyes.

With this, the three of them took fighting stances and Yang's wild grin stretched from ear to ear.

In a fraction of a second, Yang had lunged at them. Blake had known her partner would likely be coming for her as she clearly was the biggest threat, but she was thrown off by how high the blonde jumped, and she didn't see it coming at all as Yang's weight slammed into her chest, throwing her on her back. The blonde's knee hit the ground beside her head on her left, and as her other knee solidly fell under her right arm, Blake realized that left her with... Yang sitting across her body, across her chest. She was sitting on her, and her position had her groin _incredibly_ close to her face. Blake was frozen still; she could not for the life of her will herself to move an inch, much less struggle to remove her. Looking up at Yang as she hunched over her, grinning like a madwoman, Blake couldn't quite process her two other teammates' attempt to come at the blonde. Her brain had fried.

Weiss fell on her back not too far and Ruby was thrown to pile over her. Yang laughed.

Blake could only notice how warm the skin of Yang's thigh was against her cheek. There was another round of Ruby and Weiss being tossed like rag dolls.

"Blake, Do something!" Ruby's voice shook her out of her stupor. "Get her off and help us!"

Getting her off? Her eyes were drawn to Yang's crotch two inches from her face— she slapped herself mentally. That wasn't what Ruby meant!

The heiress groaned, pushing her partner off her as she rolled to her knees. "Did you give up already?" She rejoined.

Before she could find her voice, Yang's hand was in her bangs for a second, and then she patted her head gently. "I need Blake to stay right there," the blonde asserted. "Don't want her causing trouble. You two, I can take sitting down."

Ah. So that was why she _was sitting on her_.

It wasn't unfounded bragging though. Once stripped of weapons, semblance _and_ aura, Yang's abilities far outmatched the red and white pair. She was simply in another league.

Blake had recovered enough to attempt to free herself.

"Where do you think you're going?" She grinned cockily, squeezing Blake's upper body with her thighs, successfully sapping her of any strength she had mustered.

Blake still weakly attempted to struggle to save face, but she knew it was in vain; her blood was rushing to parts it shouldn't be with how aroused she was getting. The sensation of Yang's muscular thighs firmly holding her down just made her _so_ weak.

Anyways, even if Blake _would_ have had her full strength… Yang was too strong to forcibly remove. Not to mention, though Blake knew how to use an opponent's strength or build against them, there was little to be done with said opponent _sitting on her_.

"BLAKE!" Ruby called again.

"I can't!" She defended, hoping Yang wouldn't find it odd for her to claim this when she was barely trying.

She didn't find it odd. The blonde laughed confidently, flexing her arms proudly even though she wasn't actually using any strength to keep her down— her weight and Blake's unfortunate penchant for being under her sufficed.

Ruby was starting to sound desperate. "Bite her or something!"

"Bite?! _"_ Blake exclaimed. " _Where_?!"

"I don't know, her leg?!"

Her _leg_? The thigh that rested against her cheek? Bite the inside of her thigh this far up her leg?! "No way!"

"Why not?" Their leader pouted. "She's not even sweaty or anything!"

"I kinda am a bit though," Yang pitched in, glancing down between her legs. "Sorry, Blake."

Catching her gorgeous violet gems peering down at her with such a lofty view of her body made Blake want to press her mouth to her thigh more than anything. "It's fine," she difficultly uttered.

Needless to say, Yang won.

Blake wondered if she'd find herself paying back that I.O.U. on their date the next day.

Picking out what she would wear was more of a challenge than she would've thought. She knew she shouldn't, but still she found that she _really_ wanted to impress her. Of course she knew she couldn't possibly impress her in a way that would make her swoon or anything… but Yang was candidly outspoken about her admiration for Blake's looks. Not that Blake thought she was anything special, not compared to the golden girl anyways, but what mattered here was Yang's opinion. And Yang thought she looked good. Maybe it was silly to crave her praise knowing it didn't mean a thing, but the truth remained that she wanted Yang to compliment her. She really, _really_ did.

…And maybe that was because somewhere deep down, she knew that impressing her would undoubtedly bring out Yang's flirty tendency with a vengeance.

Yes, Blake knew that she shouldn't be trying to provoke this, for she was only making matters worse for herself. Whether it was stirring that aspect of Yang's playful nature, outright encouraging it or even just hoping for it, she knew that all it would ever amount to was her hurting herself. And she knew that letting herself think like that, _feel_ like that, not only hurt her in the moment, but it also cemented her attraction. Yet, she couldn't help it. Even though she knew that, on top of it all, letting her obsession grow out of proportion the way she was would increase the chances that Yang might come to realize how she looked at her. And that… _that…_ it was the very last thing she wanted.

Thinking of being found out brought her back to what had happened earlier that week with the aura link. It was almost a miracle that she had been able to keep Yang in the dark then. The faunus didn't want to imagine how her friend would've recoiled had she been awashed with the gross infatuation and shameful desires that permeated Blake's core. It had been an uncomfortably close call; just thinking about it made her stomach turn. It had been infinitely painful to tear away from her, but allowing her to experience these disgraceful urges would have been even worse, and Blake would repeatedly berate herself for not having forethought of the risk she was taking when she blurted that she wanted to do that in exchange.

Blake stared at her reflection for a second, deciding that her top was too plain. She quickly slipped out of it, grabbing something else.

Yang had gone out somewhere, claiming that if they were gonna dress to the nines for this date, then the final result should be a surprise. It kind of reminded Blake of how a groom wasn't to see his bride's dress before the big reveal of walking down the aisle, but she hadn't commented on it. She had no idea where Yang had disappeared to—probably at Nora's? – Either way, it didn't matter much. Yang had said she'd be back to ' _pick her up'_ by noon, and Blake didn't have much time left to be ready. Satisfied with her new pick, she headed to the bathroom to start on her hair and make-up.

The more she thought about this second experience with the aura link however, the more secure she felt with her decision of doing it. All in all, she didn't regret it. Yes, it had been risky, and yes, the sudden break had been one of the most painful things she remembered experiencing—even worse than the first time around!— yet, the intimacy of the experience was _well_ worth the pain. The light and warmth inside her friend made Blake feel like everything would be okay somehow. It might've been ridiculous, laughable even, but… when she was bathed in the Yang's aura, it felt like all the broken pieces of her shattered self bonded together again to be a cohesive whole. It was like the golden aura filled the cracks, repaired the damage that had been done to her over the course of her life to let her be whole. And for once in longer than she could even remember, she felt serene, and fulfilled, and _complete_.

Yang made her feel complete. So much so that nothing in Blake's life had felt as right as being entwined with her.

This was why even though it'd been a stupid, _stupid_ risk, she nevertheless didn't regret doing the aura link.

...The one drawback was that little voice at the back of her head that chanted that Yang would've accepted to do the aura link outside of anything to 'trade' in exchange. And that Blake had simply missed her chance to touch her. She didn't want to be thinking like this, but the notion relentlessly invaded her: she could have touched her _anywhere_.

Well… 'anywhere' might be pushing it; it went without saying that Blake couldn't have asked for any of these vulgar things that first went through her mind, but... she still would have gotten to touch her body. Her mind kept showing her the image of her gorgeous friend leaning over her, telling her she would let her do _anything._ And she truly didn't want to be obsessed with this missed opportunity the way she was, except she just _kept_ ruminating over what things Yang might have thought fitting to let her do in exchange. Like maybe simply asking for the same thing; getting a feel of her partner's ass? That would've unquestionably been fair. Would it have felt like Blake's own did? Yang was nowhere as slender as she was, but an ass is an ass, right? Or maybe not? Because Yang was so much more muscular. The feeling was bound to be different, wasn't it?

If Blake had asked for that, would it have been okay to reach around her as they hugged…? The way Yang had done when she so suddenly groped hers? Her blonde head had been snug in Blake's neck as they'd closely nestled in each other's arms, and feeling Yang's hand squeeze her flesh had Blake jump out of her skin. Her touch had been almost comically sudden at first, but it quickly softened to a caress as Yang felt her shape through her skirt. Blake's blood temperature had skyrocketed to boiling, and she'd done her absolute best to keep her reactions in check as she let her friend do as she pleased. Yang had been incredibly conscientious about how carefully and thoroughly she touched her, about how she attentively examined her body.

And Blake could have done the same!

Had she dared ask, she could have taken the liberty to discover how her body felt with the same unabashed fastidiousness. And it didn't have to be her ass either, because Yang had said _anything_.

This meant her chest would've been fair game too, wouldn't it?

Blake had often felt it against herself, first for how much Yang liked hugging her, but also at times during training, whether it was Yang catching her, falling on top of each other while trying out Ruby's crazy ideas, or plainly wrestling. And on that drunken night, though Blake had been distraught by the emergence of these feelings of attraction and hadn't been able to fully enjoy it as it happened… Yang had hugged her head right into her cleavage.

Blake kept thinking back on it, trying to remember how her breasts had felt against her cheek. And she'd think: what would it be like to hold them in her hands? They were probably pretty heavy. And then she'd wonder whether she'd have been able to feel her nipples through the fabric. Would Yang have noticed had she caressed her breasts in a manner in which she'd be searching to feel them? ...Would Yang's body have responded to her touch if she'd subtly stimulated them? Blake wouldn't delude herself into thinking that getting a response meant anything, she knew it would have nothing more than an innate physical reaction, but… what a _thrill_ to think it might've happened.

She finished up her hair with a dark violet bow, making sure it hid her ears impeccably. It was more of a concern to hide her ears were the bow not black, there being no margin for error and whatnot. Blake quickly went through the steps with her makeup, and applying her eyeliner, it forced her to stare herself in the eyes for a second. She'd been thinking about it too much, and she had that look in her eyes. She hated seeing that look in her eyes, knowing that she might someday slip and look at Yang openly with that disgustingly lecherous gaze terrified her.

It still brought her to think of how… had she touched Yang's body, and had it responded… she might've seen something like this emerge in Yang's eyes. Something might've clouded in her gaze, wouldn't it? Or maybe it wouldn't have been obvious enough. Would Blake have even been able to discern it…? Would she have seen arousal ignite in her eyes? Would Yang have made her stop or pretended nothing was happening? The thought that she had the opportunity to witness Yang's body react this way... it filled her with raw desire, something truly _primal_ , and it would inevitably bring her tumbling down a path of ludicrous fantasies.

She'd find herself daydreaming about being impossibly bold, fantasizing of things that could never have taken place, things that were preposterous to even _think up_ , and still, she would imagine herself… urging her to spread her legs. Like she'd do that for her. She would imagine feeling Yang's intimate heat under her fingertips… or maybe that very warmth enveloping her fingers entirely, like she'd ever allow her this most private experience. And as her fantasy would get out of hand, she imagined that she might've gotten Yang turned on enough that the gorgeous blonde would accept that Blake replaced her fingers with her tongue. A shiver coursed down her spine. She couldn't think of anything sexier than lowering herself between her legs, feeling the enclosed intimacy of her thighs on each side of her head. How tantalizing was the idea of burrowing her face between those thighs, of breathing the hot air saturated with her scent… of getting to relish in her taste. She couldn't fathom what her partner would taste like, but she knew she'd adore it. And on rare occasions, Blake would let herself imagine how Yang might caress her head as she'd savor her, what sounds she'd make, or even how she might call her name.

How ridiculous.

Yang had said anything, but she hadn't _really_ meant anything. Blake knew that, and she of course would _never_ have ventured asking anything like that. Yang would've been horrified and disgusted had she asked anything as bold as this. And had anything so absurdly implausible taken place… had she been completely insane and had Blake _dared_ ask, and had Yang _somehow_ needed release so much that she would've accepted to be pleasured, she'd undoubtedly have been fantasizing about... some man. Not calling out Blake's name like she wanted her back.

The faunus exhaled in silence. She was only hurting herself by allowing her mind to venture there. She needed to stop fixating so much on her blonde partner— or at least, she _needed_ to stop lusting such. What had gotten into her lately? Why was her train of thought always, _always_ devolving into such outrageously vulgar and ludicrous thoughts?

Blake finished applying her mascara and as her fingers grazed over her lipstick, she paused. Her gaze found her reflection in the mirror.

Would Yang have let her kiss her?

Blake brought her fingers to her mouth.

Had she dared this request, a kiss could certainly have been acceptable, wouldn't it?

Trying to imagine how it might have gone down, envisioning herself closing onto her partner, or maybe… her partner closing onto her, imagining how her their breath would've mingled together, how delicately their lips might have touched, it all gave her the most pleasant shivers, and she closed her eyes for a second, thinking about it. Would Yang have given her a quick kiss, or would she have lingered? Would it have remained chaste, or would she have gotten into it…? Would she have used her tongue…? Would she have kept a few inches between their bodies, or would she have held her as she kissed her? Would it have been a fierce embrace? Would she have enjoyed it even just a tiny bit? Or would she have entirely reviled it?

Blake sighed, her eyes fluttered open to scold herself with a scathing glare. It couldn't have happened. Yes, it wasn't too outrageous of a request, but Yang would _certainly_ have pieced it all together had she had asked for this. It was too intimate of a request, it was nothing like the ingenuous, almost naïve curiosity Yang evidently held and expected in return. Asking for a kiss would unquestionably have opened her friend's eyes to what hid in Blake's heart. The thing she was trying her best to stifle.

As she told herself that, realization coursed through her like a shock, stiffening her. Because maybe…

 _Maybe..._ she could have passed that request off as an idea implanted in her head by Pyrrah's suggestion. No, not just maybe. She most _definitely_ could've passed it off as curiosity elicited from what Pyrrha had said.

Her stomach tightened. Yang would've unquestionably accepted this pretext as a valid explanation as to why Blake might ask for a kiss. Without second guessing it. Blake could have _actually_ asked for a kiss and, not only would Yang have not second guessed her reasons, but Blake would likely have gotten it.

And she'd completely missed that opportunity.

Yang's voice interrupted as she called from their shared room. "Blake, are you almost ready?"

She'd been so wrapped up in her thoughts, she hadn't even heard her come back. "In a minute," she shot back, hurriedly finishing up with her lipstick and putting away her makeup before stepping out.

The way Yang's features illuminated when she saw her was unbelievably gratifying. The scintillating stars in her eyes were beyond what the faunus had hoped for.

"Oh my god, Blake!" She excitedly squealed. She then launched into an enthusiastic rant, but Blake's didn't register any of it.

She herself was so floored at the way her partner had spruced up her looks that her knees had gone weak; she had to grip the doorframe to steady herself.

It must have taken a superhuman effort for Yang to subdue her wild mane into a chic and polished look. Her hair was smooth and _straight_ , and her bangs were brushed to the side. With her curls tamed, Yang might've looked like someone else had it not been for those unruly shorter twirls that still rebelled. She'd opted for a mostly natural makeup look, and the strawberry tint of her lip gloss made Blake want to check if it might also taste of strawberries. The black and coffee brown top she wore showcased both her cleavage and toned stomach almost like it had been tailor-made for her, the black booty shorts that hugged her curves so sinfully right, and the garters that held up her thigh-high tights left a dreadfully appetizing sliver of skin exposed to any pair of eyes that would devour it. It all made something frightfully beastly surface from deep within Blake's loins. The golden girl truly had gone out of her way for this outing.

And right then she was still gushing over Blake, but Blake was astounded beyond comprehension and she probably talked over her as she blurted, "You're stunning, I have no words."

Her monologue slammed to a halt, like her voice had suddenly been robbed from her. The way her face rapidly reddened along with the adorably coy smile she was trying to suppress was almost unbearably cute. Blake decided it was imperative that she compliment Yang more often.

"Thanks," Yang eventually managed, "I'm glad you think so." She sucked in her lips and her fidgeting gaze searched their surroundings. It looked like Yang was having a lot of trouble recovering. And probably to help move her embarrassment along, she started moving, grabbing her keys and wallet and stuffing them in a black, cropped and hooded vest with gold detailing and embroidery that Blake didn't recognize.

Which reminded her: she hadn't recognized the top she was wearing either. When did Yang have time to go shopping? "Are those new?"

She whirled around to face her after locking the door to their dorm room. "They're gorgeous aren't they?!" She excitedly piped up, a positively glowing smile illuminating her features. "Since I wanted to wow you, I couldn't wear stuff you'd already seen. So I went and borrowed some stuff from Coco."

So _that_ was where she'd gone.

It did make sense that Yang would've gone to Beacon's fashion queen if she wanted to raise the bar on her already dazzling looks. And it was especially true given how Coco's height and size roughly seemed to match Yang's on top of it, she was likely the best option when it came to borrowing something that'd fit well. What _was_ surprising was that Coco actually accepted to lend designer pieces to this reckless hothead. "Aren't Coco's clothes like… _really_ expensive…? Did you sell her your soul?"

Yang chuckled. "She actually didn't wanna let me borrow anything at first," she admitted, "but she ended up changing her mind pretty quick."

She squinted her eyes slightly. "…Did you threaten her?"

"No!" She laughed louder this time around, shaking her head. "But…. Yeah. I was ready to have to put up a fight and harass her for a while before she caved. So I started explaining I was taking you out on a date and I wanted your jaw to drop, and… well, just like that, she said I could pick whatever I wanted."

Blake stiffly assessed her for a second. Did her partner play their upperclassman? Or did Yang truly not have a clue what she might have led Coco to believe? "Is that what you told her?"

"Yeah? I mean it's the truth," she pointed out.

"Did she ask…?"

"About what?"

"I don't know… _'date'_?"

"Hmm? She didn't ask, no," the blonde gave in puzzlement. "Why would she?"

Yes, why would she? Electing to go up to an openly lesbian upperclassman in a quest to find something to wear so you can wow another girl you're taking out on a date was self-explanatory. Coco didn't need to _ask_ to deduce what Yang might be up to. Except, had she asked, she'd have found out it wasn't what anyone in their right mind would have read into it, and Blake had a nagging feeling that it was _exactly_ because Coco had misunderstood that she had let Yang pick whatever she wanted. Had their friend gotten excited about what might have appeared to her as budding romance, and decided to help nudge it along?

 _Sorry to disappoint, Coco. This gorgeous idiot has no idea how ambiguous she can be_ , Blake mused dejectedly, deciding not to let the conversation linger. She didn't really want to make her realize what she'd done because, having already inadvertently mislead both Nora and Pyrrha, Blake feared that bringing too much attention to how widely misinterpreted their relationship might be may incite Yang to take a step back. And though Blake knew it would likely be better for her own heart in the long run, she still didn't want that. "Was Coco the one who did your hair too?"

Yang shook her head, leading the way to the garage where her bike was stored. "She wanted to, but I really hate when other people touch my hair, so I— well, I mean. Except Ruby and you. You can touch my hair, that's fine. But yeah, Coco _did_ tell me to do something about how out of control it is, so I did my best to tame it."

The faunus didn't want to try figuring out if she should be happy about being cited as an exception, or if she should lament the fact that Yang had just likened her to her sister. "I understand wanting to follow Coco's advice, but you didn't _have_ to do anything to it."

Her face fell. "You don't like it?"

Blake frowned lightly. "That's not what I'm saying."

"So you _do_ like it?" She fretfully pressed.

It puzzled her how anxious Yang suddenly seemed. Did it matter this much what Blake thought of her hair? Deciding to shrug it off, Yang _was_ really fussy about her hair as a norm after all, she comfortingly rested her hand on her arm. "Both look great, Yang, this way as well as how it is naturally," she clarified. "When I said you didn't have to, I just meant you didn't have to go out of your way, especially with how you are about your hair."

Relief visibly washed over her. "Oh, okay," she exhaled. "I don't know, when Coco said I needed to do something about it, I thought of how I was going the extra mile already with dressing up and make up and all, so I figured, why not?"

Blake gave her a smile. "I can understand that. Either way, you look fantastic."

Again, her cheeks flared and Yang seemed to lose her means for a second. It was so stupidly endearing how easily she got flustered when Blake complimented her.

The blonde busied herself taking her bike out. "...So, uh…" Her voice was a bit unsteady and she cleared her throat. "Have you thought of doing something different with your hair too?"

And at once, Blake felt incredibly self-conscious. Did Yang not like her hair? Or did she feel there wasn't enough effort in wearing it down like usual? Had she expected a change for this date? …And was this how Yang had felt a second ago when she thought Blake didn't like her hair? "... Do you feel I'd look better if I wore my hair differently?"

Her eyes widened. " _NO_!" She loudly blurted. "No, no, no, I love your hair, I love how it is, and it's soft and fluffy and gorgeous, I—I actually didn't really mean your _hair_ hair," and Blake saw her eyes drift up to the top of her head. "I actually meant… your…bow. I like it better when your ears are out," she admitted.

That put her on the spot.

She'd known her partner had a perplexing fascination with her cat ears, but Blake had figured it was nothing more than the novelty. As far as she understood, Yang hadn't had many faunus friends, or at least none whom she'd been close with. Blake had gathered as much from how Yang had no idea whether it was offensive that she wanted to pet Blake's hair, and from how she hadn't known either whether it was fine to touch her ears at all. She'd also figured that Yang's infatuation with her faunus features would have worn off at least somewhat in the last year, or at least ever since she'd obtained permission to touch them… but evidently not.

Yang swung her leg over her bike, sitting there staring at her for a second. "Since we'll be far from the academy, would you mind going without your bow today? I really like seeing your ears."

"You see them every morning and every night," Blake pointed out. She stopped wearing her bow to bed ever since she'd been found out.

"It's not the same when you're in pajamas versus when you're all dressed up like now," she argued, a small pout forming. "And, I mean… without your bow, you're more… you. Your bow, it's like… I don't know, a cover for the rest of the world."

A mask. Blake knew what she meant. Because of how it stifled her ear movements and how it made her mindful of not moving them too much, it in fact made her mindful of not reacting emotionally to most things. Which, because of how hard it was to remember not to move her ears while still genuinely letting emotions surface on her features… she would end up simply trying to stay as impassive as she could most of the time. Her partner had hit the bull's-eye with saying it was a disguise, and in that light, it made sense that she would prefer when Blake wouldn't wear it.

"Come on, _please_ ," Yang begged. "I'll even make it the I.O.U. you owe me from the other day. You get away without doing much!"

For a second, she didn't know how to answer her. She understood why Yang preferred her ears out, but was it such a big deal that she'd waste the opportunity to extort anything out of Blake for _this_? Did she truly want this for herself for no other reason than enjoying the sight of them this much? … Or was it maybe that her partner trying to encourage her to be more open and freer? Blake sighed, still somewhat mystified. "Is that _really_ what you want?"

She must've known she'd won her appeal because she grinned widely. "What, you'd rather I make you do chores or something embarrassing?" she teased.

"That's a bit embarrassing," Blake contested, pursing her lips.

"How? I mean, you went without for most of your life, didn't you? Also, lots of faunus go around without hiding or anything."

With a shrug, her gaze fell on the floor. "It's… because I got used to blending in, to being invisible."

Yang snorted. "You may blend in as a human at school, but you're not invisible, Blake, you're too beautiful to be invisible,"

Maybe her cheeks grew a bit hot. Yang made her out to be much prettier than she actually was and it was really embarrassing. "People look at me differently when they see I'm a faunus."

Yang stared at her for a few seconds, the hope on her features transitioning to dejection. She then sighed in apparent resignation. "You want me to pick something else?"

Seeing this made her heart sway and Blake knew she couldn't deny her. "…No, it's fine, I'll take my bow off when we're in the city."

How radiantly her expression illuminated again made Blake's heart flutter. It also allowed her to grasp that Yang in fact _did_ want this for no other reason than her enjoying the sight of Blake's cat ears this much. What an odd girl. "I'm surprised this is such a big deal to you. You'd really use your one trump card on something as small as _this_?"

"Yeah, I would!" Yang laughed as she handed her her helmet. "It's the best use I had for it!"

Without any comments, Blake secured it on her head before getting on too. She sat a few inches back, grabbing the leather seat under her.

Yang glanced back at her curiously. "What are you doing?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why are you sitting so far at the back? You should hold on to me."

The faunus stared at her blankly for a second. "This is how you had Neptune sit when you two went to your friend's club for info."

Yang laughed. "Yeah, but that was _Neptune_. I didn't want him to get any weird ideas." She then motioned for Blake to move closer. "It's safer if you hold on to me. Come on, get your arms around my waist or I'm not moving."

It was an uneasy pause before Blake was able to make herself slide forward. She snugly sat behind her, leaning her body to her back and hoped to the high heavens Yang wouldn't notice how clammy her palms had gotten as they settled on her bare stomach.

The blonde revved the engine and off they were. After a few minutes of holding her, her cheek resting in the soft golden hair, Blake was able to relax and enjoy the ride. Just this was making her happier than she'd anticipated, she didn't even care if they went and got the books she'd aimed to buy, they could've simply rode around a bit and went home and she'd have been blissfully fulfilled. And yet this was nothing but the beginning of an entire date planned ahead! Blake didn't know what she'd done to deserve this, but she counted herself blessed.

Once they got to town and Yang had parked, Blake freed her ears as promised. The glee on her partner's face made her want to re-tie her bow just so she could redo the _'reveal'_ and film her expression this time around. Instead she turned heel and headed into her favorite shop. Most books she read she would simply borrow from the library, but there were a few authors whose works she wanted to own. Not to mention… some steamy reads simply weren't available at the school library. And so, whenever she bought any books in Vale, it was at this bookshop; not only were they openly faunus-friendly, they also offered the widest selection of obscure works she'd ever seen.

Even though she had her purchase list in mind when she'd requested a ride to town, once Blake found herself in the bookstore, it was the same as ever; before she knew it she was sifting through every row, lingering here and there on odd finds. She was doing so at a painful crawl of a pace, she knew, and that was evidently what had Yang stop following her to instead wander around, eventually settling on the cooking section. It didn't surprise Blake much that her partner would opt for something practical, and eyeing her as she seemed to try to memorize a recipe made her smile. Yang eventually glanced around, took out her scroll and took a picture of the page before putting the book back and picking up another one, which really didn't seem to do much for her. She looked bored already, which made the faunus resolve on not wasting any more time. She'd already known what she wanted before having set foot in the store after all, and she didn't want to stretch her funds thin anyways.

Picking up her buys, she beelined to the front and Yang joined almost immediately. There were a couple of people already standing in line to pay, and as the bookstore wasn't a very spacious shop, it felt very crowded. Blake didn't mind having to stand this close to her partner, but Yang was fanning herself with her hand; she _did_ tend to get warm and sweat really fast, what with being a living space heater.

It didn't take long before Yang gave up. "I'll wait for you outside, okay?"

Blake gave a nod, following her with her eyes as she exited. Through the shop's display window, she could see the blonde make herself comfortable, pulling out her scroll to browse idly as she half-leaned, half-sat on her bike's leather seat. The faunus was content observing her, and she didn't fail to notice how most passersby stared at her as well. Who could blame them? Yang was already extraordinarily beautiful, and, done up the way she was, it was only expected that she attracted this much attention. She either didn't mind the lingering gazes or didn't notice, her eyes stayed unwaveringly riveted to the small screen in her hands. Blake glanced at the cashier again; the young man seemed to be having some trouble with the machine, and an older lady wearing an apron with the store's logo on it joined him behind the counter to help. Holding the books she picked out closer to her chest, the dark haired faunus decided to return her attention to her partner outside.

To her surprise, in the moment she hadn't been looking, two young men had approached her friend. Yang only half-interestedly answered, but she didn't seem bothered by them either, she was smiling lightly. The two guys were obviously into her. Blake wondered if she wasn't seeing it, she didn't care, or… if maybe, she liked the attention.

It looked like she might.

After all, Yang knew how attractive she was and she enjoyed flaunting it. Moreover, if she felt those guys were an annoyance, why would she indulge them?

Blake felt her jaw tighten, her fingers clutching the novels she held against herself turning white. She hated that it was getting to her. She tried to rationalize that maybe one or both were acquaintances of hers, maybe old classmates from Signal, neighbors from Patch, or friends of friends, maybe?...Or… an ex…?

If she couldn't even handle this much, how would she ever handle Yang getting a boyfriend?

She was so absorbed with watching what was happening outside that she hadn't noticed her turn had come up, the older faunus standing behind her startled her when he tapped her. She hurriedly made her way to the counter to pay and then was out the door to join her waiting friend. Yang's features brightened as soon as she saw her exit the store, going from indolently chatting up her impromptu company to seemingly waking up as she turned her full attention to her. "That took a while," she said with a smile.

"The cashier was a new employee," Blake commented, her eyes drifting to assess the two guys.

" _That's_ the friend you were waiting for?" One of them gave. The tone of his voice was casual, but it was impossible not to notice how his eyes lingered on her ears and how his expression lost whatever enthusiasm it previously had. Blake looked over at his companion only to notice he wasn't even trying to hide his contempt. Or disgust, maybe.

Yang abruptly straightened from the way she'd been leaning on her bike, startling both guys. She swiftly swung her leg over her bike straddle it. "Let's go, Blake," she stiffly urged as she slid on her aviators.

It was only a second before they disappeared behind her shades, but Blake had noticed: her eyes were red. She was angry. It probably shouldn't have lifted Blake's mood the way it did… but it really did. Because she hadn't expected Yang to even _notice_.

"Hey wait," the first guy interjected as Blake climbed behind her blonde partner. "Can I get your numb—"

Yang made the engine roar, smothering the sound of his voice as she glanced back at her passenger. "Hold on tight," she instructed tersely.

As soon as Blake's arms were around her waist, the brawler slammed on the gas. Though she'd been warned, the faunus hadn't expected such a brusque start and she abruptly clutched her as they flew down the street.

…She was happy. She was happy that her friend had picked up on it right away, that Yang noticed the smallest things and that she'd taken action before anything truly ugly could be said. She was happy that Yang didn't hesitate one second at the first sign of racism. She was happy to be holding her this way. She was excited most of all that she got to be on a date with her. Because even though it wasn't _really_ a date, it sure felt like one.

After a few minutes of driving, Yang took the speed down a few notches. Blake didn't have to hold her as tightly, and the way she could comfortably lean her head on her back was tremendously pleasant.

Yang brought them to a small restaurant that was probably family-owned. It looked like nothing more than a hole in the wall, and there was barely anything left from the decrepit sign hanging at the front, but the blonde swore it was the best Mistrali cuisine she'd ever had. It was very dim inside and the waiter lit a candle between them, which made the entire thing feel like even more of a date. Blake had to try really hard to remind herself it _wasn't_. Because this meant nothing at all to Yang. This was all play for Yang. Yang dated guys. Yang had had boyfriends. She'd even been amused enough by how those two guys flirted with her to humor them up until they revealed themselves to be bigots.

Blake wondered had they _not_ been… would Yang have given one of them her number…? Had she maybe indulged those guys because one of them was her type? Was she maybe longing for romance? …Or sex? Her stomach felt tight. Blake didn't want to know, she didn't want to hear it. And yet it was beyond her power to stop herself. "Yang?"

She'd started on the appetizer the waiter apparently knew to bring her and now she sucked on her fingers. "Hmm?"

Blake couldn't watch her do that; her own eyes found the cutlery laid out in front of her. "Why are you spending all your time with me?"

Yang frowned deeply, like she wasn't understanding the question.

"I mean, I _know_ you like spending time with me, but we're together day and night already, you don't need to spend your weekends with me. Don't you feel like going on _actual_ dates with guys?" Blake clarified. "You don't want a boyfriend?"

It gave her pause, like she hadn't given it a thought. She even forgot she'd been chewing and as she was about to give an answer, she hurriedly made herself gulp down her mouthful. "Not right now," she answered with a bit of a strain to her voice. She drank a bit of water to help clear her windpipe. "I'm honestly _really_ happy just the way things are," she then added.

"Is that right," Blake absently reflected. "Even if at the dance, you said you wanted to make heads turn?"

The blonde hummed pensively. "I said that," she acknowledged. "But… I don't know. I mean… honestly, I'm surprised too. When graduation rolled around at Signal, looking forward to coming to Beacon… I expected that once I'd settled with my team and all, it wouldn't take long for me to meet someone and fall in love," she explained. "But it's been a year and still no Mr. Right in sight, and… you know what? I couldn't care less," Yang said leaning forward a bit. With her gaze riveted on Blake's, a tender smile etched itself on her features. "This," she motioned to them, "all this time for us, it's perfect. I don't want to change anything."

It was a challenge to maintain eye contact, and Blake was infinitely thankful that it was so dim in the restaurant because she knew she was blushing. "Okay," she acquiesced quietly. This was the moment the waiter came in to take their orders, and the faunus was very thankful for it, as it allowed her some time to recover.

"Why're you asking?" Yang curiously asked once he left. "Because of the guys earlier?" And as she seemed to maybe think it over for herself, something changed in her gaze. It lost any traces of the lightheartedness and comfort it had held as she'd given her own answer and what emerged instead looked too much like disquiet for it not to be. "Or because _you_ 're interested in…?"

She left her unfinished question in suspension. There were a number of things she could've asked after all, and Yang didn't seem to know which one to ask. If Blake was interested in Sun? Or just in someone? Or maybe simply interested in making time to start dating? Evidently, no matter which it was...Yang appeared to fear the answer might be yes. Blake reminded herself how her friend had _just_ explained that she didn't want things to change, so of course she wouldn't like the prospect of Blake yearning for anything that'd shake up their routine.

"Because of the guys earlier," Blake answered. It was true seeing them flirt with Yang was what prompted her questioning after all, even if the reason the faunus wanted to know was mostly to be able to brace herself for the pain would Yang want to start dating. "I was thinking of how… you're still single after a year here at Beacon. Even though you like flirting this much, and you're really popular with guys. So I…I was just wondering if maybe I was… in the way. Of you going out and dating."

As relief evidently washed over her features, the blonde straightened up a bit in her seat, like the relief also alleviated her of a weight. "You're not in the way," she affirmed, her signature grin returning to her lips. "If I wanted to go out on dates with guys, that's what I'd be doing. You _know_ that if I want something, I won't think twice about it and go for it."

Blake gave a half-smile in return, just slightly reassured. "…Yeah."

It was probably because she felt that Blake wasn't entirely convinced that Yang mustered that resolved air as she scooted closer, leaning a bit over the table. In that angle, the dancing flame of the candle between them reflected in her eyes, it was fascinating. "I like spending so much time with you. I don't want to take that away," she explained, her gaze pensively searching Blake's. "I'm getting a lot from the time I'm spending with you. You make me grow. You make me want to be better. And I like being with you more than anything."

"More than anything?" Blake repeated, feeling something pull at her heart.

"Yep," she readily confirmed with a candid smile, which quickly turned a bit teasing. "So I'm gonna take advantage of all this time together while I can. And maybe once _you_ get a boyfriend and you don't have as much time for me, then maybe I'll put a little effort into trying to date."

Really now? _That_ was how Yang envisioned things going down? "I can't see myself dating anyone before you do," the faunus commented, unconvinced.

Her friend laughed. "And why's that?"

"Yang, you _know_ you make heads turn everywhere you go," she pointed out. "One of those days, you're bound to look back."

"Fat chance," she snorted, "not as long as you're around anyways." And then something playful crossed her features. "I've got eyes only for you," she cooed.

"Don't start," Blake warned.

Yang leaned further over the table, stretching over half its length. "But I do. 'Cause you're my absolute favorite person."

"For now."

She smiled wider. " _Forever_."

Why was she so unfair? It was very clear some guy would rob her of that claim someday. And yet Blake still wanted nothing more than to greedily cling to that title. "...Be careful, I'll hold you to that."

"That's fine," Yang affirmed, her grin stretching ever more.

The waiter appeared with their food, it forced the golden girl to sit herself back down normally. As the conversation had seemed to have come to its natural conclusion, they both started eating in silence. Blake didn't know what authentic Mistrali cuisine was supposed to taste like, but she greatly enjoyed her own choice of meal regardless; the food was great. Wasn't it often the case that businesses that didn't look like anything much were in fact hidden gems?

"Hey," Yang's voice rose gently.

Blake's attention was on her plate, savoring her food. "Hmm?"

"I'm your favorite too?"

"No, Zwei is."

"It's a serious question," the blonde unassumingly indicated.

How out of character this tone was for her partner made Blake glance up again. Yang looked a bit bothered, maybe even fretful. "... Yang, do you see me spending even _half_ the time I spend with you with anyone else?"

Her eyes lit up with optimism. "That's a yes, right?"

Disconcerted, Blake cocked her head curiously. "I don't understand how you have any doubts."

She shrugged. "...Because… right now isn't the same as before," she muttered. "I mean, because I don't know much about your past, I don't know if maybe you ever had a friend who you were closer with, or relied on more, or if you… had a first love you still held onto. Or anything like that."

Hearing her explanation amply justified how her friend wanted validation. "...Nothing like any of that," Blake said. "None of the friends I've had in the past have understood me even half as well as you do," she admitted. "I've never been as close to anyone and I've…" she paused, not certain that what she was about to affirm was true anymore. She decided not to linger on it. "I've never been in love either."

Yang's eyebrows shot up. "You never liked anyone? Not even a tiny bit?"

"Liked?" She repeated. "That's not the same. Infatuation or physical attraction, they're not the same as love."

"Right," Yang nodded, and the curious way she looked at her gave the clear impression that her tongue burned to ask about 'infatuation' or 'physical attraction' which Blake had just incriminated herself with bringing up.

But Blake wasn't about to let her ask, she didn't want to put herself in a position in which she might have to lie to her, so she continued on a tangent she knew would distract her partner. "... I'm not sure I can allow myself to even think about love."

"What?" Yang exclaimed instantly. "Why not? You deserve to be happy just as much as—"

"There are things I need to make peace with first," she cut in, knowing full well what kind of rant her friend was about to go onto.

"Oh," Yang gave as the fierceness melted off her features. "…Sorry."

Blake shook her head faintly. "Don't be sorry," she said. She knew Yang felt a bit guilty because she assumed it was about her past. It wasn't totally incorrect, as Blake had avoided thinking about what had happened with Adam and about how _that_ had made her feel for a long time, which had made it somewhat challenging for her to dissociate her revulsion for him from the general idea of intimacy itself. She'd mostly pulled through, and though she admittedly wasn't quite out of the woods yet, her main concern was… what she'd just began broaching regarding her sexual orientation. She'd had no choice but to come to terms with her attraction to her partner… but she wasn't quite sure yet if men were entirely ruled out, and more importantly… if it was _women_ , or just… one specific woman. Blake sighed gently. "...I still need time to process and sort out some things before I can start talking about any of them, or before I start thinking about what I might want when it comes to love."

"I understand," she said, leaning back into her chair. A warm smile graced her lips. "Thanks."

 _Thanks?_ "What for?"

Yang stopped her motion half-way as she was about to get a huge bite of food. "Because you just made sure to let me know the reason you're not telling me isn't because you don't _want_ to tell me, but because you still haven't figured it out," she pointed out. "I'm just happy to know that," the blonde added, happily stuffing her forkful in her mouth.

Blake smiled to herself. She knew her well enough to anticipate she'd attempt to prod at it, so might as well be up front about having had no answers yet.

It was another short and comfortable silence in which they progressed on their plates before Yang addressed her again. "So if you don't want to be thinking about love for a while, it means I get to keep you all for myself," she said, still grinning.

And Blake didn't want to allow those words to escape her, but they did anyways. "I'm all yours," she heard herself say. And realization of where she was powerless to let her feelings venture coldly washed down her spine and numbed her to her fingertips.

The so-very-radiant smile that replaced the cocky grin on the blonde's features made butterflies flutter inside her, and Yang leaned over slightly, her gorgeous violet eyes sparkling with happiness. Her warm fingers traced over Blake's own as her partner's hand found hers. "I'll treasure you," Yang tenderly promised.

What feelings gripped her heart compressed it in her chest until it hurt. No matter how much Blake had strained to tell herself that what she felt for her partner was nothing but physical attraction, by now she knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that it wasn't just that. She had fought the idea of romantic attraction from the very first moment she'd realized she was stirred by the other woman, but deep inside she'd always known it was a losing battle. Still, she didn't want to linger on it. She didn't want to have to say these words even to herself – to spell her feelings out. Because the moment she stopped ignoring it, she would have to think about how to deal with it. And she wasn't ready to deal with it yet.

"We should get the bill," Blake awkwardly said, "We don't have a lot of time before the movie."

She said that, but she'd underestimated how fast her partner drove, and they in fact made it well in advance. Which allowed the blonde, though she'd eaten a massive meal already, to still get herself popcorn _and_ candy. Blake was surprised that, though they were somewhat early for the movie, the theater room was already pretty packed. They made their way towards the back to one of the only spots where a pair of seats were still available. It didn't take a minute after they'd sat down that the couple next to her stood. They went to get seats in one of the mostly free rows uncomfortably close to the screen.

Blake gave a small sigh, feeling herself shrink in her seat. This time around, it wasn't so obvious that Yang would notice. And it's not like there really was anything to be done about it, the couple had moved without making trouble.

"Blake, look!" Yang's eyes were sparkling with amusement as she showed her two teddy bear gummies melded together by defective processing. One was yellow and the other purple. Yang was really excited about this. "It's us!" She exclaimed.

"They're candy bears."

"But the colors!" She countered. "And look!" She pointed at where the two candies merged together.

She raised her eyebrows, unimpressed. "They're attached at the butt," Blake noted.

"Yeah, exactly. That's _totally_ us," Yang reiterated grinning wider, and it had the faunus crack a small smile. The blonde looked incredibly satisfied with herself, she leaned closer. "You should have one," she proposed, and, as she was about to separate them, she froze. Yang stared at the thing in her hands for a solid moment before turning her gaze back to her. "I can't separate us," she flatly stated.

With a small sigh, Blake snatched the candy and wrenched the two colors evidently meant to be different pieces from each other.

Her friend had a small, dramatic yelp. "You tore us apart," she accused in a whisper, "how could you do that to us?"

Blake opted not to grace that with an answer. "Here," she said, extending the yellow piece to her.

"No way, I want you."

Thankful for the darkness in the theater masking the color her cheeks must've taken, Blake stared at her friend.

Said friend opened her mouth, evidently waiting to be fed the purple piece of candy.

Without a word, Blake brought it to her mouth, carefully placing it on her tongue, and as she took back her hand, her finger lightly skimmed Yang's bottom lip. Maybe it was her imagination, but she had the impression that Yang held her breath for a second. The golden eyes rapidly dropped to her other hand in her lap, noticing again her own yellow piece of candy. She popped it in her mouth, unable to resist touching the same finger that'd been on her partner's lips to her own, and then gathered herself enough to glance again at the blonde.

Yang was chewing her candy, smiling so fondly. The room darkened completely as the screen lit up. Both of them settled in their seats, turning their attention to the imminently starting movie. "Hey," the blonde quietly said, wrapping her arm around her shoulders. "Don't let these people ruin your mood, okay? They're not worth it."

…So Yang _had_ noticed. And there _had_ been something to be done about the situation, at least for how it'd disheartened her; simply take Blake's attention off all of it and make her smile. Blake could barely believe the sheer luck she had when she set her mind to pick Yang as her partner. Yang's genuine pleasure and enthusiasm at spending time with her was such a breath of fresh air. And Blake _wished_ she was able to put into words how much her friendship and care meant to her. She absolutely was the most thoroughly beautiful person Blake had ever met—she was just wonderful.

She wanted to kiss her.

Her chest felt tight. She knew she shouldn't be thinking like this. She shouldn't. It was better that she didn't. What was inside her, that thing that she didn't want to name, she truly should be doing all she could to prevent it from blooming. Because all it would bring was grief, along with wrecking the closeness they shared. Yang might not have been horrified by the thought that some of their friends believed they were an item, but that was only because Yang thought it was a far-fetched idea. Surely she wouldn't be as casual about it if she knew Blake actually lusted for her. Surely she wouldn't find it as harmless then. Surely she'd be disgusted. Surely she wouldn't want to touch her as liberally anymore.

Realizing it'd gotten hard to breathe, she closed her eyes, doing her best to get a hold of herself. Breathe. Breathe normally. She'd already entirely lost track of the movie's plot and she didn't care much. She decided that maybe she could attempt to brainwash herself by thinking of everything that was annoying about Yang and turned her gaze to her. Her profile in the darkness, barely lit up by the projection Blake was supposed to be paying attention to, was captivating. Her high cheekbones and the outline of her jaw, the way her airy golden bangs fell over them. Her wide, wide eyes, their bushy black lashes, and their gorgeous violet color. Blake's heart fluttered, forgetting she was looking for aggravating things about her. What a vain endeavor anyways. _Everything_ about her was stupidly charming. Even her dreadful puns were endearing.

Blake hated it. It was like her partner had walked out of a fairytale and brought the magic with her, and Blake felt like there _had_ to be a catch. She might have speculated that somewhere inside this golden beauty, a monster, a beast might be lurking, awaiting in hiding for its moment to reveal its violence or horror, but… those speculations had been proven wrong as Blake had gotten to feel what was inside of her. The aura link had bathed Blake in her partner's essence, it had allowed her to graze the very core of her soul. And what was inside of her was as bright and beautiful as her smile, it was fire and all-consuming passion matching her semblance's burn, it was as warm and tender as drowning in one of her embraces. What was inside her was everything she'd shown Blake she was and everything Blake never knew a single person could be. So in the end, Blake couldn't help thinking that the catch wasn't about Yang hiding the face of a monster. The catch was simply that Yang was meant to remain just out of her reach. Yang wasn't meant to be hers. Yang was radiant, _sublime_ , and as twisted and flawed a creature as Blake didn't belong at her side.

Yet the strong arm around her shoulders reassuringly holding her against the side of her body, in her warmth, in her delicious scent, evidently told its own story about where Yang believed she belonged. It was in moments like this one that Blake usually would question why her friend liked her this much. Even though Yang would patiently tell her over and over again why, and maybe… Blake admittedly _knew_ why in her head, she still couldn't seem to believe it deep in her heart. She really couldn't conceive that she had enough to offer to be worthy of so much love. Blake had never been inundated with this much love before. It was so much more than she'd ever experienced, so different that sometimes she was enough of a fool to let herself think that the tenderness of her smile and the gentleness in her eyes might be more than it was. Especially when her friend was in one of her flirty moods, the ones in which she'd liberally provoke her with words Blake wouldn't have thought to hear outside of the bedroom. In those moments, it was hard to remind herself that Yang didn't harbor any further intentions, that it was nothing but a game, and Blake would at times find herself getting caught in it; flirting back… believing for a second it would be okay to cheat her of a kiss.

She couldn't help stealing another glance at her profile. Yang seemed wholly invested in the movie. Blake hadn't followed at all, she sunk back in her seat, turning her attention to how the brawler's arm around her shoulder had her hand dangling a bit forward in front of Blake. Would it be acceptable to lace her fingers with hers? Would that be too intimate? It wasn't that Blake thought it'd be ill received were she to initiate physical contact –earlier that week, Yang had been very fine with her reaching for her hand, and she'd even claimed to have enjoyed the way Blake had kissed it – no, she knew Yang would at the very least _not mind_ were Blake to take some liberties and touch her, yet Blake couldn't seem to make herself do it anyways. She'd get anxious that it didn't feel natural, or maybe that… she'd enjoy it too much. And maybe that Yang would see that.

Before she could find the nerve, she felt her partner remove her arm from around her, snapping her back to reality to notice the credits were rolling. Yang stood and stretched, idly chatting her up about the movie before she grabbed Coco's jacket. Blake hurriedly gathered herself and followed outside. It was already getting dark, and they'd probably make it just in time for the school's curfew. Blake fished for her ribbon in her purse. She hunkered down to see herself in the bike's wing mirror as she tied a bow over her ears, feeling her friend's gaze on her.

"I'm sorry I made you go without your bow," Yang eventually said. "I never realized so many people were like that."

"That's okay," Blake absentmindedly answered, straightening up and turning to her partner. "Thank you for noticing," she then offered in return. "I wasn't expecting you to see any of it, so it means a lot to me that you _did_ notice."

Her eyebrows knitted themselves in a deep frown. "What do you mean you weren't expecting me to notice? It was disgusting how obvious they were."

Blake shrugged. "Maybe my perception is a bit skewed because… all that was really mild compared to how bad it can be in Mistral or Atlas. Here, there's no open violence," she explained, seeing her expression crumble slowly. Yang stared at her motionlessly, in a very rare instance of being at a loss for words. Blake could take a guess at where her friend's train of thought might bring her. "...That's why I was in the White Fang. If none of us stand up, nothing will ever change," she softly added. "But I can't condone their terrorism or violent methods. I don't want humans to get hurt, no matter how those humans might feel about us."

Yang nodded faintly. "I really don't get how those people can't see you're just like us."

"Me neither, but we can't respond to hate with more hate."

"Yeah…" Yang sighed, leaning on her bike's seat. "I wish there was something I could do."

Wished? Did she not see she was making a world of difference? "Yang, it's people like you who make a difference," Blake disconcertedly pointed out. "By standing by our side, you're showing these people that other humans respect us and that it's not just faunus who want equality. If they think they're alone with their hate, they might rethink why they hate at all," she explained.

"Oh," she said. "Then why isn't the White Fang recruiting humans too? Wouldn't it be helpful?"

"It wasn't always a faunus-only organization," Blake revealed. "But at some point, some faunus started making the few human allies we _did_ have feel unwelcome. Saying things like the White Fang should be a ' _safe space'_ , they've segregated themselves and only furthered the divide. And _that_ is where the worst hate comes from – the faunus who hate humans." Faunus who hated humans had been the bulk of her time with the White Fang. Blake had been very young when humans had still been part of the organisation, and she remembered only vaguely the faces of her parent's old friends. Yet she also knew that it was likely thanks to them, thanks to seeing from a very young age that not all humans were hateful, that she never held any bias against them. She shook her head slightly. "The White Fang as it is now is never going to get anywhere. What faunus need to do is show the world that we can all stand shoulder to shoulder."

Yang's lips stretched into a half-smile. "If you ever want to do that and go without your bow, you know you can count on all of us to show the world we stand by you, right?"

And Blake felt overtaken with overpowering gratitude and love, fogging up her senses. "Yes, I know," she whispered. She couldn't have been more blessed with the team she had. She couldn't have been more blessed with the woman she'd picked as her partner. Yang had done everything right today. "Today was great. You were perfect, I was happy to have you."

Without a word, she wrapped her arms around her for a very heartfelt embrace. The way Yang held her was unlike anyone had in her life. It was protective and loving, it was fervent, avid and engulfing. Blake felt she might drown in all that love. Good. She couldn't think of a better way to go than dying in Yang's arms. Blake pressed her forehead to her shoulder, breathing in her perfume, engraving this moment, this feeling in her heart in case she ever felt lost, ever lost her way, ever wondered if the world was worth fighting for. The world was good. Because that world had produced someone like her, and there was no question it was worth fighting for.

Yang leaned her forehead to hers. "You'll always have me, _always_ ," she whispered, cupping her cheek with her hand.

Blake exhaled shakily, it took all her willpower to hold off from leaning in and kissing her. "Thank you," she breathed.

Yang did lean in, she kissed her cheek. Then she let go and got on her bike, patting the seat behind her.

* * *

Blake had spent that Sunday reading in a secluded area of the gardens, somewhere no one ever went to. It was a place in which she could easily escape the rest of the world, and that had been the intent now that she had new books to devour. She had opted for a retreat after that wonderful date so she take her mind off her partner for a while. She really didn't want to let herself dream about all this becoming customary, because it wouldn't be, and it would only mean torture in the long run.

It was only as the sky dyed itself orange hues that she decided it might be time to head back. The imminent darkness of the night wouldn't have disrupted her reading, but it did announce the school curfew was drawing near, and Team RWBY had already been breaking too many rules in the last few semesters. There really was no reason for Blake to draw needless attention to herself when she could simply be reading just about anywhere else. As she trotted back to their room, passing by the school cafeteria and seeing it still open made her realize that it wasn't as late as she'd thought. The summer was ending, so the sun was simply setting earlier and earlier; and there were probably a few hours left before the curfew. She nevertheless decided that since she'd been on her way, might as well head back.

She paused right in the entrance the moment she opened the door. Yang was sitting at her desk, straddling her chair and leaning with arms crossed over the chairback, her golden mane flowing to her side over her shoulder. Ruby was standing behind her, clearly exerting herself massaging her somewhere along her spine. What had made Blake pause was for one, how it wasn't quite like Yang to get tended to by her sister, it was usually the other way around. But mostly, Blake froze because Yang was wearing neither her tan blazer nor a shirt. Nor a bra for that matter.

The way she leaned the front of her body to the chairback did hide what there was to hide, but… still. Blake's two functioning brain cells reminded her that she should close the door because would anyone pass down the hall, they'd see.

"Welcome back," the blonde slurred, not raising her head from how it hung down.

"Are you hurt?" Blake inquired, not quite daring to move from the way she leaned against the closed door. It was dangerous to get closer, Yang wasn't wearing any top after all.

"No," she groaned, "but I've had a knot under my shoulder blade for weeks, and it's really started to bother me lately."

" _Weeks_? Why haven't you done something about it before?"

"It's just tense, it doesn't _hurt_ ," Yang argued. "Ruby's helping," she then added, motioning vaguely at her sister behind her.

Said sister didn't look too enthused with what she was doing. "You tricked me," she muttered.

"I didn't _trick_ you," Yang argued. "We said _any_ favor when we made that bet."

So all this was Ruby paying up her I.O.U.

Blake made herself unglue her back from the door, mechanically walking to her bed. She however couldn't avert her eyes the way she wished she could have. The gorgeous canvas of exposed skin magnetically drew her gaze. Yang's back was exquisitely defined, and though Blake _had_ had a glance at it in the past… she hadn't witnessed it entirely naked this way yet. What she would have given to run her hands on it, she wanted to memorize every line, every square inch of it. Of course, it wasn't like she'd never touched it, she knew how solid her back was, it was impossible not to know given how many times they'd hugged, but… this wasn't the same at all. Blake sat on her bed, staring from afar for a few minutes.

The blonde groaned. "Harder, Rubes," she urged, "you're not doing anything like this."

"I'm trying, but like… that's all the strength I have in my hands."

"Lies," Yang accused. "You got awesome grip strength when it comes to swinging around Crescent Rose."

"It's not the same at all," the short-haired leader pouted.

She dropped her head of blonde again, letting it dangle on the chair. "That's fine. If you don't wanna put more effort, that's fine," she huffed. "It's just gonna take longer before you're free."

"You can't do that," Ruby bemoaned. "Weiss is waiting for me for the study group for the exam tomorrow, she's gonna be mad."

" _What_?" Yang turned to her. "What exam?"

Blake didn't remember an exam either, she frowned. It was probably a class she wasn't taking – the Beacon curriculum had a few base classes that were mandatory, and those were to be taken as a team, but then the students had to flesh out their schedule by picking classes out of number modules. It was encouraged that team members scatter and not take the same optional classes, as it allowed the unit to benefit from more rounded knowledge and versatility once on the field.

"The military strategy class, we have an exam," Ruby said— a course mandatory for the team leaders, and indeed a course neither Blake or Yang were taking. "I told you we were meeting up at the library with Jaune and Pyrrha to study tonight!"

Yang looked a bit offended, probably because she would never have knowingly held her sister back from studying. "You never told me that."

"Yes I did! 'Save the team leaders from certain failure' maneuver."

"But you didn't say you had to _study for an exam_!"

"What else did you think it was about?!"

"I don't know, just— " Yang evidently decided there was no point in arguing because her expression as she stared back at her sister lost all tension, like she gave up. "…Ugh, fine, go."

Delighted to abandon her chore, Ruby quickly started gathering her school supplies, as Yang hung her head with a dejected sigh.

Blake didn't know what overcame her, if it was how disheartened and pitiful Yang looked or if it was her own _need_ to touch that naked skin, but she heard herself talk before she could stop herself. "If it's really that uncomfortable and it'd help, I can take over."

The way her partner perked up with all those stars in her eyes spoke volumes about her gratitude. " _You would?!_ "

"You're my partner, I need you fighting fit," she justified, maybe also trying to convince herself her motivations weren't completely corrupt. And they weren't! Because no matter who her partner would've ended up being, Blake would've done something like that for them whether or not she was attracted to them, that was unquestionably true. So it wasn't _all_ about how she especially wanted to touch her.

"Awesome!" Ruby exclaimed. "See, Yang, it works out! Blake will fix you!"

Yang rolled her eyes. "You might be wiggling out of this but I'll find something else for you to do," she threatened as the short leader ran out.

With the door closed, Yang looked back at Blake over her shoulder. Her eyes looked like half-moons thanks to the giddy smile she evidently couldn't suppress. She might have admonished her sister, but she still seemed awfully excited about Blake taking over.

Now that she realized she was _actually_ going to touch that skin, the dark haired faunus felt an upsurge of anxiety accelerate her senses. It was both trepidation and exhilaration and she knew it probably hadn't been a good idea but now she'd volunteered and it was too late. Exhaling a soothing breath, she made herself walk up to stand behind her. Yang's skin had reddened on the area Ruby had been focusing on, giving a good guideline as to where the problem area was. Blake uncurled her tense fists, realizing the blood having drained from her fingers left them cold. At least they weren't clammy.

She rested both hands on her back, relishing in the warmth of her soft skin and the gorgeous definition of her athletic shape. They were all fighters, they all needed to stay fit, but… Yang _really_ looked the part. Blake swallowed inaudibly and got to work. There was a palpable tension on her left side compared to her right, making it obvious right away how uncomfortable that might be. The faunus set her mind to work-wise, trying to ignore every aspect of this that might've showed up in a fantasy. It didn't take long for her to realize how hard it was to work in that position though. No wonder Ruby wasn't getting anywhere. "Why are you not lying down for this? It'd be easier to massage you if we can put our weight into it."

"It seemed like a bad idea for both of us to be on either of our beds at the same time since they're makeshift top bunks," she reasoned.

Impressive, the siblings had decided to be sensible for once. But right now, options weren't only the top bunks. "...Come on, let's move to my bed so I can better take care of you."

Yang glanced back at her, with a playful grin. "Woah, Blake, that's bold."

"Do you want me to stop what I'm doing?" she scolded, though she admittedly might've baited her to flirt with how she'd phrased that. Blake didn't have complete handle of herself anymore, what with Yang being half-naked and all.

"Sorry, sorry," she laughed. "I'll behave," Yang promised as she stood, keeping plastered to her front her tan blazer that'd been hanging on the chair she'd been straddling. She was hiding her entire front, but the way she clutched the fabric to herself and her golden curls fell on her naked shoulders and around her still had Blake unable to detach her eyes from her. Yang scurried towards their shared bunk, watching Blake with a twinkle in her eye. "I'll behave," she repeated more impishly. "Your bed, your rules, hmm?"

…What had she gotten herself into? She hated how she loved it. Blake gathered the yellow top and strapless bra that had been abandoned, crumpled together next to the chair. They were still a bit warm, Ruby probably hadn't been massaging her for long before Blake stepped in. She then stepped up to her bed, watching as her friend laid, keeping her vest under her, and made herself comfortable on her stomach.

Yang gathered the pillow in her arms and plopped her head in it, snuggling it. "It smells like your hair."

"That's to be expected," the faunus pointed out, sitting next to her on the mattress. Golden eyes looked down at the exposed skin of her back, trying not to fixate over the fact that _Yang was shirtless in her bed_. "You can use my shampoo if you like it," she offered.

"No way," Yang's voice was muffled from how she'd stuffed her face in the pillow. "It won't be as special if my hair smells the same," she turned just enough to glance at her. "That's _your_ smell, unique to you."

"It's the combination of products I use," Blake corrected, brushing golden locks off her nude back to liberate the canvas. "You may associate it with me, but it's not really _my_ smell. Our bodies have their own smell."

"I know, but your products fit really well with your smell."

This gave her pause. "…You know how I smell?"

"Of course I do. Don't you know how I smell?"

She blinked in confusion. "It's not the same, I'm a faunus."

Her friend observed her curiously. "What difference does that make?"

So Yang didn't know about this difference between their species either. "...Nothing, forget it."

"You can't just say that," she said with a laugh.

For a second Blake hesitated, but on second thought… what was there to be embarrassed about? It was just basic faunus biology, it wouldn't make her look weird. "It's just, I told you we tend to have better senses… so it's a normal thing for faunus to know about anyone they regularly interact with," she explained, leaning over her to start massaging.

"Oh. Okay. Makes sense." Yang didn't seem to ruffled by this new information. She stayed immobile, letting Blake work her back for a few seconds before she glanced back at her again. "What are you doing?" She shot before patting her own butt. "Come, sit."

Her lips tightened. Blake had indeed had the fleeting thought of doing that, as it probably would be the optimal position to massage her, but…straddling her? That was so intimate, how could she have dared? … How could she, had Yang not demanded it? But she was urging her now, and, of course, Blake knew it didn't mean anything that Yang would press for this, but… as she moved herself to straddle her, she still felt desire spread from her core through her veins. She tried not to think of the heat pooling between her legs and didn't sit completely just in case Yang noticed the distinct intimate warmth were she to rest her weight on her ass.

Blake brought her hands to her friend again and closed her eyes, trying to relax, trying to summon memories of when she'd done this for family or some White Fang conscripts after hard missions. Even with her eyes closed, however, it was impossible to fool herself into envisioning someone else; Yang's distinct scent permeated her senses. Blake put her weight into massaging the obvious knot her fingers had found. "I didn't know humans could tell people by their scent too," she reflected out loud.

Yang hummed pensively. "Well, probably not as acutely as you, but I can tell with people I'm really close with like family, or you and Weiss because we live together." She thought about it for a second. "Boyfriends, of course."

"I see."

"Is it the same for you?"

"No. I don't need a personal relationship with them to recognize their scent. I can tell people apart based on it about as distinctly as one would from hearing their voice," Blake described. "If I've been within a foot of them often enough, I know their scent."

"Oh wow, okay. That's really sensitive," Yang commented. "So strong smells bothers you?"

"Somewhat, yes."

"Do I smell strongly?"

"No, not any stronger than your regular person."

"How do I smell? Do you like it?"

"I can't describe it," she gave quietly. How to tell her that her scent was the best one she'd ever encountered? That she smelled so enticingly, so seductively delicious Blake would find herself humming the air after her? "It's… ... ...nice."

Yang glanced back at her in semi-horror. "Why did you pause?" She anxiously asked. "You can tell me if it's bad, you know! I'll pay attention to what I eat, I hear it helps with—"

"Don't," she abruptly cut in. "Don't change anything you do, I didn't lie when I said it's nice," Blake rapidly affirmed. "It _is_ nice, really nice."

The way Yang's expression transformed made it obvious she'd grasped that the reason Blake had paused to start with had been because she had wanted to tone her affirmative answer down. The twinkle in her eye and the wide grin that spread across her features were positively ominous. "You _like_ it?"

"...I just told you it's nice," Blake gave as evenly as she could.

The blonde gave a candid laugh. "You're doing that thing again," she pointed out.

What _thing_?

"So it must mean you actually _love_ it," Yang impishly continued.

Blake had to ask now. "What thing?" She hadn't been aware she'd been doing anything.

"That thing," her friend repeated. "You know, when you suddenly get super collected and your voice is way detached. It's like you really wanna play it cool to make it look like you don't care," she explained. "Putting in the effort of doing that makes it obvious you _really_ care, you know?"

Was she being obvious? Obvious wasn't a word anyone had ever used to describe her before. "...Obvious to you maybe."

"So I was right," she said, making Blake realize she had corroborated her knee-jerk reflex to make herself appear unconcerned, and _that_ intrinsically also corroborated Yang's assumption along the way. The blonde smirked. "You _really_ like how I smell," she insisted. Blake felt herself pale. Yang seemed to be too wrapped up in her gloating to notice. "You can sniff me all you want, I don't mind if it's you," she pompously continued.

"How gracious of you," Blake muttered.

"Don't be shy," she teasingly urged.

"I don't have to be any closer than I already am."

"Aww, you're no fun."

In an unnerving upsurge, defiance possessed her. Maybe she wanted to punish her for her teasing, but Blake couldn't stop herself as she stretched over her to lean in close to her head. She pushed her nose in the golden locks, dangerously close to her ear. Being filled with her scent so _completely_ was dizzying.

Yang became very still for a few seconds. She then tilted her head as she wanted to look at her. Blake's nose brushed her ear and her lips grazed her cheek and for a second it almost felt like Yang would fully turn around, like what naturally came next would be their lips finding each other's.

It wasn't the first time there had been a lingering moment of pause like this one between them, a moment in which, in any book or any movie, in _any_ story, the protagonists would have closed the distance. But in those stories, those protagonists were of opposite sexes, and they rarely were of different races too. And this wasn't a novel, this was her reality. And this was her best friend. And she knew that wasn't how that went.

Yang likely had not even an inkling of what tangible pull Blake felt with that short distance, or of how, with every one of those moments, she was more and more tempted to throw everything to the wind and act on that foolish impulse.

"You really go from zero to a hundred and ten," Yang murmured.

"You should decide for yourself what you want before inciting one thing or another," Blake noted a little glumly.

"It's not like I have a problem with it, it just surprised me," her partner defended, and it looked like she relaxed, like she exhaled a breath Blake hadn't noticed she'd been holding. "My heart is racing."

Her mind went blank. Had she also felt like it was a perfect moment to kiss…? "...Your heart is racing?"

"Yeah," Yang rejoined, noticeably shaking off whatever she had felt. "I guess you can be really intimidating."

Of course, her heart couldn't have been racing for the same reason Blake's was, but _this_ was still unexpected. " _Intimidating_?"

"Yeah."

"How?"

"I don't know. I just… was frozen for a second there," Yang explained. "I felt on edge. Like something might happen."

So she really had felt something lingering in the air too. "...Like what?"

"I don't know," she repeated with an awkward shrug, thinking it over for a few seconds. "Maybe I felt… in danger?" She wondered out loud, and a smile cracked her features again. "That's probably how tiny animals feel when they're about to get eaten," she concluded with a laugh.

Blake didn't want to let her mind wander to _eating_ her. Yang was far from being a tiny creature anyways. "Does that make me a predator?"

"Aren't felines predators by nature?" The blonde pointed out. "You got an air of danger about you, it's pretty sexy."

Heat flushed her neck. "Could you stop using that word when referring to me?"

"Sexy?" Yang repeated, clearly amused with her discomfort. "But it's true."

"It's not," she maintained. "Plus, danger isn't sexy."

"What planet do you live on?"

Blake narrowed her eyes. "One that's dangerous enough already. Who needs the additional stress of their significant other not being a completely safe place?"

Hearing her answer had Yang's expression soften into understanding. "...Right," she breathed. "Sorry, I didn't… think how you'd see it from that angle."

With a shrug, the faunus resumed her work on her friend's back. Blake could conceive how danger might be attractive, it wasn't too different from the exhilaration that gripped her when it felt like anything might happen with Yang. It was the unknown, the _'what if_?' Except Blake had too many other concerns to be find risk or threat sexy. And anyways, her precarious attraction for this very safe partner of hers was already exhausting enough.

"Sooo…" Yang broke the silence after a minute or so. "What _do_ you find attractive since danger is a turn off?"

In the past, Blake hadn't dwelled on love, sex or relationships because everything she might've been expected to want had felt wrong to her. And… everything she had experienced in that regard had been utterly wrong. Since then, she hadn't wanted to think about it at all, and she truly hadn't, at least until her attraction to her friend had emerged. That was when she'd understood why she had no enthusiasm for any of it before; she simply hadn't been looking in the right direction. And it was also as her attraction to her friend had emerged that she understood what would draw her to another person enough to want a relationship.

Blake didn't need to think about it to give her answer. "...Warmth," she idly answered, her palms caressing down the soft skin of her back. "Warmth, care, compassion, trust."

Her friend glanced back at her with a confused expression. "You want to be protected?"

She frowned. "No, that's not it at all," Blake refuted. "It's not like I want to be meek and complacent; I'm capable and I like it this way," she defended, and Yang's confusion melted off her features; this independence and temerity was more concordant with the partner she knew. Blake took a second to work out what she needed to explain, and as she prepared to speak, she dearly hoped her friend wouldn't notice her use of non-gendered language to describe her prospective significant other. "It's just that I… still don't want to be alone against the world. The idea of someone being there, someone being... _home_ is what would be appealing to me," she thoughtfully continued. "Being cared for isn't the same as being protected. And I… _do_ want to be cared for. And I mean… _completely_ cared for; psychologically, emotionally… and…" she gave a nervous breath, "physically too," she quickly said. "And of course I'd give my all to do the same for them."

Yang gave her a radiantly warm smile. "That sounds perfect," she affirmed, dropping her head back onto the pillow, "but you don't need love for that, we have each other!"

Her heart painfully slammed against her ribcage so hard it jumped. Yang had to have misunderstood. Blake exhaled a very long breath as silently as she could. "You forgot about the last part," she managed steadily enough.

"What about it?" Yang shot back, still all snuggled up in the pillow. "I mean, I hug you all the time and all. And I can massage you back, I'll be happy to."

That explained it. The faunus found it baffling however that her partner hadn't understood what had been implied. "I meant..." she cleared her throat, not knowing how to _say_ it. "I meant… hmm... _more_ , Yang."

"More, like?" She inquired, turning to her again. Only as she asked did she finally realize what Blake was referring to. "Oh," she gave, like she was a little troubled. Like she'd never even conceived that Blake might have those needs too. "…I think it's the first time you've ever brought up sex," Yang commented disconcertedly.

Blake shrugged. Though she hadn't desired any of it until those last months, what those urges taught her as they'd surfaced was that it wasn't an aspect that she could overlook when it came to a romantic relationship. She would simply not be able to settle for someone who didn't set her on fire at least half as much as thinking of Yang did. And it wasn't unreasonable to want to feel passionate about one's significant other, right? ...Even if she couldn't conceive just how she'd even be attracted to anyone else even half as much as she was to Yang. "I just think it's a part of a relationship that shouldn't be glossed over," she diffidently said.

As she said that, the way Yang curiously observed her told of what question she was about to ask before it even passed her lips. "You ever been in a relationship?"

The only thing that came to mind was something that might have _looked_ like a relationship to anyone observing them. But it had been twisted and oppressive rapport, and a relationship hadn't been what she'd wanted out of the man she once admired. "No," Blake murmured.

"... Had sex?"

There was no disavowing what had happened though, she wasn't chaste. "I guess."

"What sort of answer is that?" Yang laughed. "Is this about first base or third base or something like that?"

Bile rose in her throat. "Can we not talk about it?"

"No way, I wanna know," the blonde teased.

"They're not good memories," Blake strained, feeling malaise wash over her.

"It was awkward?"

"Yang, _please_ ," she urged, and in the tone of her own voice, she heard dismay she never wanted to allow to surface.

Yang's expression lost its playfulness. The way she observed her had an undeniably troubled quality to it. For a second, it seemed like she still wanted to ask, though evidently in a gentler way, but ultimately she opted not to. "...Fine," she murmured, lying back on the pillow to allow her to continue.

The tension that had seeped in Blake's body wasn't going away. The state of high alert that treading close to thinking of that part of her life put her in was always a challenge to shake off, and she tried her best to distract herself from the pervading memories by focusing on her partner's gorgeous back again. The silence that had seeped between them after this uncomfortable exchange was heavy, and she didn't like that Yang might too easily puzzle out a correct answer as to what secret Blake had insisted she desist from uncovering. After all, was there anything else Yang might deduce from what had transpired than the ugly truth? Blake tried to get a hold of herself. Her fingers moved on her friend's skin. "You have a scar on your shoulder blade," she observed, hoping that talking would help the moment pass.

"It's really old," Yang commented. She sounded distracted, lost in her thoughts, and Blake didn't want to let her ruminate the last moments, so she made herself keep up the idle chat.

"For something that's old, it shows pretty well," she noted, "it must've been bad if it scarred this badly."

"I didn't get hurt _that_ bad. I fell when I was climbing a tree, and there was a rock. That's all," the blonde disinterestedly answered. "But it's from before my semblance kicked in and unlocked my aura, so it left a scar even though it wasn't that awful."

Blake felt herself frown. What an odd answer; she couldn't think of one case that she knew of in which one's semblance and aura hadn't been unlocked in two steps. Especially if the child had any family members who knew how to unlock aura, and all the more if the child had shown the will to be any sort of fighter— huntsmen or not, the aura would be unlocked and then the semblance often manifested itself later, all on its own. Unless they'd been unlocked in a catastrophic manner. Blake didn't want to jump to conclusions. "Aren't _both_ your dad and uncle teachers at combat school?"

"Yeah?"

"Your semblance had to kick in for you to have your aura unlocked? I would've thought they might have wanted to unlock it for you before that."

"They wanted to wait for us to know not to misuse it," the blonde explained. Probably _because_ they were teachers, her guardians had seen it misused too often, so that made sense. It was almost imperceptible, but Yang hugged the pillow a little closer. "It's just that it didn't go as planned 'cause I got my semblance pretty young. It was a bit messy."

"Messy?"

"Yeah."

"You mean how your semblance was triggered?"

"Yeah."

A chatterbox like Yang not launching into the tale and suddenly getting monosyllabic could only mean one thing. The faunus could also feel her muscles had tensed under her hands. She gently inquired: "Painful memories?"

"...Hmm."

Blake wanted to kick herself. She'd desperately wanted to move away from her own bad experiences and now she'd walked right into Yang's. And Yang didn't seem to have many of those, so how gauche did Blake have to be to manage that? And anyways how stupid would one have to be not realize Yang's semblance had a painful backstory? Her semblance was linked to both anger _and_ pain! "Is it better that I steer clear from that topic?"

"I don't especially like talking about it," Yang acknowledged, finally turning to her. Her gaze was clear and frank, devoid of the discomfort Blake had expected to see. "You _want_ to know though?"

"I don't want you to feel like you have to tell me," she carefully answered, though curiosity itched at her. "It wouldn't be fair."

"Fair?" She frowned deeply. "I don't care about _fair_ , Blake—or, no, I care, but you got it all wrong," she contested. "I don't like that story, but I can talk about it. I don't have any unresolved feelings that make it so uncomfortable that I can't tell you. While you outright told me, like, _yesterday_ that you're not in a place where you can tell me _your_ stories."

Blake's eyes dropped to her hands. She thought of their dinner the evening prior, as she'd confessed to having unresolved feelings and couldn't talk about them yet.

Yang sighed. "I think what _wouldn't_ be fair would be that I purposely hold off from telling you just because you can't tell me yet. That'd be like…really spiteful and shitty."

That sounded awfully familiar to Blake.

The blonde shook her head slightly. "Listen…I _really_ want to know about you, but I… don't want to pressure anything out of you. That's what I want least of all," she gently explained. "I know that someday you'll tell me, and I'm totally okay to wait until you've sorted it out with yourself. Until you're truly ready to talk about everything."

The faunus nodded once. She'd already made up her mind that someday, she'd tell her. She didn't know how she'd muster the courage or how she could begin to tell anyone, but she knew if she were to open up to anyone in her life, it would be to Yang.

"Don't overthink it, okay?" The blonde pled, dropping her head back on the pillow. "I don't ever want you to tiptoe around asking me anything. Just tell me straight when you want to know."

The faunus didn't know if she meant in general or if she wanted to hear it straightforwardly now. "I want to know," she nevertheless voiced. "Please."

In that angle, only a portion of Yang's face was visible to her, but the way her closed eye arched made it clear she was smiling. "Okay. Don't forget you were massaging me though."

Blake felt herself smile, she resumed kneading around her neck.

Yang hummed in contentment as the ministrations resumed. It took a few more seconds for her to start, and her story started in a way Blake would never have expected. "You know," she breathed, "depression… it changes people. There's about a… three years or so period that, looking back, I don't really recognize my Dad at all." She stayed silent with her eyes closed for another while, maybe thinking over how to launch into her tale. "See, I learned about _my_ mom really not too long after Mom—… after Summer died."

"She was your mother," Blake interjected. "You don't have to correct yourself if that's what you used to call her."

Yang glanced back at her. "It's not gonna be confusing to you?"

"Context is enough."

The blonde gave a small nod. "Okay. Well. What I told you about before the dance, you know, when I brought Ruby with me on that stupid journey? That episode, even though it could've been a _disaster_ , it didn't manage to shake Dad out of it as you might've expected. It didn't kick him in the butt like ' _hey they're kids and make stupid decisions, you need to be in charge here._ '" Yang then exhaled softly, her voice came again quieter, her pitch a bit lower. "No, he stayed...lifeless, really. Not only that, it even looked like he was getting worse. Like – he tried to hide it, but I knew— he cried a lot at first, but then it just became… him sitting there staring out at nothing for hours. And then doing still exactly that, but lying in the dark instead. I don't think he could get himself to shower more than once or twice a week if at all."

As she spoke, audible strain developed in her intonation, making Blake aware of just how hard it was for her friend to talk about this. Yang glanced back at her, looking almost vulnerable. "He's not like that, you know?" She earnestly appealed. "Aside from that time, ever since I can remember, all my memories of him are like… super energetic and confident and dad-jokes. I'm actually a lot like him."

Blake nodded faintly, wordlessly moving her fingers on her back again, pressing into her flesh. She yearned to reassure her, to make relating her story easier on her, to do _something_ to support her, and as she kneaded around her neck, Yang closed her eyes again as she rested her head back on her pillow.

"But back _then_ , it felt like… the older I got and the better I was able to take care of Ruby, the more he was letting go and letting himself… die. Like he thought maybe that we didn't need him," she confessed very quietly. Her violet eyes cracked open to remain half-lidded, and she stared into the emptiness. "Sometimes Uncle Qrow would come home to check on us, just making sure we were okay and stuff. He'd never stay long, I think he had stuff to do for Ozpin. But then one of those times, him and Dad got into a huge fight."

Blake could only imagine how that might have exploded. In the story she'd been told in that dusk-lit classroom, her partner's uncle had _somehow_ made it in time to prevent the unthinkable. But travelling as he did... odds were he wouldn't have been there for a next time. One would get angry at the children's guardian were they to still avoid responsibility after such a scare.

Yang reached back and put her finger in the middle of her back, right of the spine. Blake took it as a cue to move her attention there, and pressing with her palm made her friend groan in relief, then a relaxed sigh. "It'd been a long time since Dad had any sort of liveliness," she continued, "so I went to listen. I probably shouldn't have, but I did. He was _so_ angry. I don't know that I had ever heard him so angry before or ever again after that. And now I think that maybe… it was a sort of release he really needed. He purged things he'd been letting rot inside of him and they were killing him. And I think, maybe because of that night, he was able to start healing," she said. "But… I'll never forget what he said."

There was a long moment of silence and Blake paused what she was doing. Instead, she slowly caressed up and down her back comfortingly. She didn't know if it was anger, pain, or sorrow, but she'd felt her partner's heart pick up pace under her palms, and she hoped this might soothe her a bit.

Yang exhaled with something akin to resignation. "He was telling our uncle how… it was hard for him to _look_ at us. Not just because we were a reminder of them but also because of how… both Ruby and me are the spitting image of our moms," she explained. "I had never realized until then that I—… I mean, my hair is like Dad's, but I… really don't look like him besides that. And of course, I didn't look like Mom either, and I'd already learned why a few years before. But I guess I… just hadn't _really_ added two and two together. I hadn't realized I looked like _her_ ," Yang explained disconcertedly. Her arms tightened their grip on Blake's pillow. "And I don't remember what they'd said in between, but then he said that Summer, at least, had the decency to die. While Raven's just fucking around somewhere out there. And I _wish_ I'd gone before he continued, but I kept listening. He said: 'You Branwens are too fucked up to know what family and loyalty are. And she's got her face, but I sure as hell hope Yang doesn't turn out to be one of _you_.'"

There was a pause again, and slowly, Yang raised herself on her elbows to half-turn to her. "…It was the _way_ he said it," she uttered. "He said that like he hadn't noticed that I _do_ know what family and loyalty are. Like he hadn't noticed how I took care of Ruby and I did everything around the house even though I was _eight_. Like he didn't notice I'd taken everything on my shoulders and I'd never complained or asked for anything, even though losing Mom was really painful for me too. And taking on all those responsibilities was _hard_ , but I did it! ...and he didn't even _notice_?" she explained strenuously, searching her eyes earnestly. "I was _so_ angry. I punched the wall and hurt my hand. And _that_ got me even angrier, and … my heart burned and everything was hot and I couldn't control the aggression and I punched the wall again, but this time I punched _through_ the wall." The wry, hollow smile that stretched itself on her lips was thin and uncommitted. "You can bet Dad and Uncle Qrow stopped screaming at each other when my fist went through the wall. They ran out to see what was up and looked at me like… maybe like they'd seen a ghost," she murmured. There was another pause in which Yang slowly let herself down again, getting back to her initial position to get massaged. Her face was half-buried in Blake's pillow and she pensively stared out into the room. "You know," she quietly resumed again, "my real mom, she has red eyes," she revealed, making Blake understand the heaviness of what must've gone down. Yang sighed. "I can't imagine what might've gone through my Dad's head, after saying all that, seeing me with red eyes too. And I always wondered… if he thought in that moment that I was 'one of them', whatever that means."

Blake's hands found her skin again, it had cooled a bit from being exposed to the air while not being worked anymore; she resolved to warm her up again. "...Did he treat you any differently after that?"

"Not especially," Yang mumbled, giving a low, pleased sound as Blake resumed massaging her. "Maybe I noticed more that he found it hard to look at us, but that was just because now I knew, not because that night changed the way he looked at me. But from that night on, he made an effort to do things again. Even though his heart wasn't in it and his eyes seemed dead. He still did things. And I think, along with what he got off his chest that night, moving again is what got him started on the way to getting better, because a few months after that he'd really gotten better. Enough that I recognized him again." She gave a passive sigh. "I don't think Dad ever forgave himself for that time," she thought out loud. "He really put in a ton of energy once he'd recovered to be the best Dad he could and take care of us."

"Yeah," Blake quietly acquiesced, thinking over what her friend had explained. Even having been aware of how Yang had to assume the role of caretaker for her sister, Blake hadn't quite taken the time to consider what a load she had taken on, nor how young she had been when she'd stepped up to shoulder such responsibility. "...I never realized how hard it must've been for you back then," she softly said. "You put too much on yourself."

She scoffed. "Look who's talking. Didn't you join the White Fang, like, super young?"

 _Touché_. "You could say I was born into it," Blake acknowledged. "Both my parents have been prominent figures. They left when Sienna Khan took over."

"That wasn't when you left too?"

"No. I chose to say behind," she admitted. "I wanted to keep pursuing the White Fang's ideals, because I hadn't noticed how its core was changing. And I thought I could make a difference."

Yang carefully glanced back at her. It looked like she was surprised that Blake was finally giving up a little information, and that she was scared that saying anything would break the spell.

Blake stared right back, weighing her options. She didn't know how it became about her. And she didn't want to get into details, but she didn't want to just shut the conversation down either. She didn't want to see that disappointed look on her face again. So she decided to move the conversation along as quickly as she could. "I was almost seventeen when I finally acknowledged what it'd become and wanted nothing to do with it anymore. It took a few months before I settled on enrolling at Beacon," Blake outlined. "I thought I'd be able to find myself and a path for the future here. But as Professor Oobleck made me realize when we were in Mountain Glenn… I still have no idea of how to move from here."

Lifting herself on her elbows again, the blonde turned a bit to be able to look at her more comfortably. She had turned her body a bit more than the first time around, and a large portion of the side of her was uncovered; it was a challenge for Blake to keep her eyes on the violet ones. "Whatever you decide, I'll help you," Yang volunteered. "I'll be with you."

Butterflies came alive in her stomach. Was her partner saying she'd be with her even after they graduated? "...Don't you have your own path to find?"

She shrugged. "All I've known when I decided to become a Huntress is that I want to travel and find adventure. I'll get that if I go along with you."

Blake felt her heart pick up speed. That answer hadn't even required a second thought, like Yang had already decided this before. So she'd given it a thought and set her mind on going with her? No matter where, no matter what? "What about Ruby?"

Her gaze dropped to the vest she still laid on, or maybe the bedsheets. It took a few seconds before she spoke. "You remember how I told you… when we first came to Beacon, I encouraged Ruby to make her own friends and maybe be on a different team? … But in the end, I _still_ looked for her in the forest for my own peace of mind?"

It was unquestionable, she remembered. Because Yang had said she didn't want anyone to be ' _stuck with her_ ', when Blake's take on it was that she was _blessed_ to be with her.

Yang sighed. "Ruby clings to me, but… she's fully capable. She's strong and really resourceful. Me being around is probably holding her back from being confident in her own abilities and her own decisions," she speculated. "As hard as it is for me to admit this, we… probably need to be without each other for a while."

"So you'd… you'd leave her?" Blake confirmed, still in disbelief. "...To be with _me_?"

She dropped her head back into the pillow, her violet eyes sparkling in the most endearing way. "There's no one in the world that I'd rather be with."

 _Kiss her._ Blake felt her boiling blood rushing through her veins. It was a stupid thought and she'd be damned if she ruined her friendship with this _amazing_ young woman. Her body nevertheless felt more alive than ever, and the urge was nearly irrepressible. Her fingers only idly grazed the skin of her back now, as she, at a loss, stared down at her. "What if the path I choose is dangerous? Or painful?"

"All the more reason you'll need someone to watch your back, right?" Yang answered, undeterred. "For better or worse, I want to be with you."

Blake couldn't help thinking it had the ring of wedding vows. She sucked in her lips, breaking eye contact. Her fingers had stopped moving now, and she couldn't muster an answer.

"Come on," she urged, wiggling her butt to shake Blake from side to side. "What, you don't wanna have me?"

Her head snapped up to meet her gaze again. "No, I'd _love_ to have you."

Yang's features brightened again in the beautifully genuine way they would. "Then let's go on an adventure after we graduate."

Blake couldn't help but smile back. "Yeah."

"And you can massage me like this every other day," she announced, reminding the faunus to keep going— which she did with renewed strength. Yang groaned with relief. "I love your hands on me."

Blake didn't know what took over her, but she heard herself say: "…I can do more than your back, if you want." She immediately regretted it, because it was unfair to Yang that she relished in touching her body so much, because she didn't know how she'd handle it if Yang said yes, because she _knew_ Yang would accept.

"Yeah?" She perked up, full of hope. "You'd do my legs?"

Was it too late to back out now? Did this mean Blake would explore her thighs? She kicked herself for the images invading her mind. "Your entire legs? Or did you mean your feet?"

"I meant mostly around my calves, but whatever you're offering, I'll take. Feet, calves, thighs, all of it. Just do me."

Fire coursed under her skin in a flash and her eyelids felt heavy. Yang just _had_ to start flirting again, didn't she? "Aren't you greedy," she breathed quietly.

"But your hands are _magic_ ," she lamented wistfully. "How are you so good?"

"I don't know, I enjoy it." It wasn't a lie. She had always enjoyed giving massages; kneading something helped her own stress.

"You mean, you enjoy touching me?"

Yang wasn't done with her provocations? "Absolutely," she humoured.

"Oh, so you _will_ do me?"

"If you want to find out what else my magic hands are capable of."

Yang glanced again, her face much redder. She then dropped it back in her pillow, her voice muffled. "I'll never get used to you flirting back like that."

Blake had anticipated that her partner might've been discouraged to flirt from the moment she'd conceded defeat at the infirmary. Evidently that had been an erroneous prediction, because not only was she not deterred, it in fact felt like Yang was not only doubling down on her efforts, she also was markedly bolder. Wishful thinking nagged that… maybe Blake _should_ be reading deeper into this, but she refused to let herself go down that route. After all, when it came down to it… Yang even flirted with adversaries she was beating up in fights. "You've been dropping double entendres all over the place, you should expect me to rise up to the challenge at some point."

"I know," she groaned, glancing at her again. "But it still takes me by surprise. My heart can't take it."

 _You think mine can_? Blake wasn't about to voice this out loud though. "You get what you give," she flatly answered.

The dubious grin Yang pulled told of what sort of comeback she was about to venture uttering. The faunus braced herself for it, but her partner seemed to reconsider challenging her. Without a word, she stuffed her face in the pillow again.

"Wise," Blake commended, putting her weight into what she was doing. The palpable tension she could feel on the other woman's back was stubborn, but it was finally starting to give. It was plainly obvious it had to have been incredibly uncomfortable to Yang, and yet she hadn't said anything about it. "I mean it though, Yang; I really don't mind doing this for you if you have pain or stiffness," she said, resuming the previous conversation. "I'd much rather you tell me you're uncomfortable. This way we can do something about it instead of letting it take its toll on you."

She peeked back at her. "Are you sure? You don't mind at all?"

"I told you I enjoy it," Blake reminded her, moving her hands to the other side of her spine to make sure tensions weren't displaced.

"But it's so much work, though," Yang commented. "Don't your hands get tired?"

"They're fine. Plus, I find doing this relaxing, like kneading a stress ball."

"... Kneading," the blonde repeated. "So, it's your cat instincts!"

Blake rolled her eyes. "Call it what you will," she dismissed. "But I have no problem doing this if you need it."

Yang hummed thoughtfully, actually taking a short moment to think it over. "If it's really no problem, then I might take you up on that for real."

"Don't hesitate. I'll be at your disposal," she absently answered.

"At my disposal? I like the sound of that," she laughed. "Can I dispose of you any way I want?"

Blake frowned. "Any way you want?" Was she getting a repeat of what happened in the infirmary room? "…What do you have in mind?"

"Answer the question first."

She only took a few seconds to decide. "Yeah, okay."

"Really? Without even knowing what I'd do?" Yang piped up in surprise. "What if I did something gross? Like stick my fingers up your nose."

Okay. _Not_ a repeat of the infirmary room. "Is that your idea of entertainment?"

Her partner laughed again. "Your reaction might've been worth it."

She didn't know why she was a bit vexed. Maybe something inside her yearned for another barter; she wouldn't have squandered that one. "If that's what you want to waste the opportunity on," Blake muttered.

"No way," Yang shot back, still amused for a second, but then her face fell at once. "Wait— were you giving me the go-ahead? To do whatever I feel like?"

That wasn't a good idea, was it? Blake decided she shouldn't allow it, no matter how she craved it. "Are you going to grope my ass again?"

Yang was quiet for a solid moment before answering. "…Maybe."

"That's not very creative of you," she commented.

"Are you challenging me to be creative?"

"Certainly not."

"It sounded like you were challenging me to be creative," Yang said, drawing an ominously sweet smile.

Blake squinted her eyes at her. "I wasn't."

"But now it's too late, I want to be," she replied.

"I have no reason to subject myself to whatever bizarre idea you'll come up with."

"But you said you'd let me!"

"Hypothetically. For instance, if you still had that I.O.U. that you decided to waste on my bow," the faunus explained, though she _loved_ another trade. "Plus, you're already getting a massage, aren't I being gracious enough?"

"Well, I can massage you back?"

It didn't sound especially odd that she would say that, but something at the back of Blake's mind took note. Albeit very casually and very well snuck into their conversation, it was the second time she offered to massage her back. "First, are you any good?"

"I'll let you be the judge of that when you're the one on your stomach," she said with one of those really cheeky grins of hers.

Desire flared in the pit of her stomach and her body's reflex was to bring her legs together. Except she was sitting on Yang's ass, and all she managed was to squeeze her hips between her thighs, which only made everything worse. Blake exhaled hotly. "Bold of you to assume I'd let you have me in that position."

She gave a candid laugh. "Oh? That's not your thing? Wanna tell me what position you like better?"

No matter how she tried not to picture it, she could only imagine herself with the golden girl. She tried to will the image of a faceless stranger, but it was futile; the vision dissipated into nothingness and was replaced by Yang in a matter of milliseconds.

And she found she really didn't care who was on top; she wouldn't care would Yang want her at her mercy or if she wanted to be completely ravaged. Blake would submit or take lead with the same enthusiasm. But, there was one thing she found she did care about. "…Just any position in which I see you."

"What, you feel like you need to keep your eye on me?"

"I wouldn't put it above you to take the opportunity to be _'creative'_ ," she explained instead of telling her she would in fact give one of her supposed nine lives to see her expression as she came. "What if you stuck your fingers up my nose while I wasn't looking?"

Yang burst out laughing. "Fair," she said. "So you don't want me to do you?"

"That's not what I said," Blake answered, doing her very best to steady her voice; Yang just _had_ to say it like that, didn't she? And why did she keep coming back to massaging her back? "I only asked if you were any good."

"So you _do_ want me to do you."

 _Yes, please._ "Don't say it like that."

Her cocky grin made Blake want to devour her lips. "Why? Am I winning?"

"Were we playing a game?"

"Don't say that like you didn't know," Yang shot back amusedly.

Blake felt thrill coursing in her veins. "We both know you're not winning if we play _that_ game," she murmured.

"What, you think I'd back down again?"

Hadn't she just backed down again a few minutes ago? Gotten so cutely embarrassed when Blake had risen to the challenge and flirted back? "Yang, you back down every time," she reminded her.

She seemed a bit slighted and pursed her lips, her cheeks reddening a tad. "What makes you think _you_ wouldn't back down this time?"

"Because I wouldn't," she very evenly stated. "You'd be surprised how far I could dare," she then cautioned. And maybe, just maybe, there was a touch of danger to her tone. Like it was almost a threat. Or a dare.

Yang must've finally felt the shift in the air around them, or maybe the edge in her voice, because she glanced back somewhat warily. "I didn't know you were the kind of person ready to do anything to win."

Blake brazenly stared down at her, still unsure of what she herself might be capable of if pushed far enough. "That's not what it's about."

Her eyebrows went up. "Oh yeah? Then what is it about?"

Of course, the truth was that despite knowing better, she _hoped_ for the situation to escalate into daringly intimate. But it wasn't like she could just say that. "I'm simply refusing to idly stand aside and let you run amok."

Yang laughed heartily, her cheek falling back into the pillow. "Who'll put me in my place if you don't, right?"

"Precisely."

Her eyes fluttered shut, still smiling widely. "I love how you don't let yourself get fazed," Yang candidly commented. "Sometimes I'll think of what if I'd landed a partner with no spine and no spunk, and I get genuinely sad. But luckily I have you."

"...Luckily," Blake grimly repeated. If only her friend knew what abject thoughts were going through her mind, she wouldn't think herself so lucky.

"Don't you start," the blonde warned, evidently sensing their banter was taking a turn with Blake's dismal self-image. "Look how lucky I am, getting the royal treatment; lounging in _your_ bed, getting myself massaged," she bragged.

Royal treatment, that was right. Blake had promised her this as she'd kissed her hand a few days ago. "I told you I'd treat you like a queen," she mused.

And Yang laughed. "You did, didn't you." With this, she gave a pleased sigh.

Blake's fingers found the area where the tension had been notable. It seemed it had eased quite a bit, though not quite gone yet. She wondered if this meant she'd have to move off her partner soon. Disappointment seemed to slacken her completely, she wasn't able to put in the same vigor and strength into her work. She didn't want it to be over yet.

"You're almost done, huh?" Yang's voice interrupted her thoughts like she was reading her mind. "Thanks a lot, it makes a world of difference. I feel much better."

"I'm not quite done," Blake answered. "But almost yeah."

"Soooo… want me to do you after?"

"I told you not to say that."

"Fine," she grumbled. "But do you want me to massage you though."

As this was the fourth time Yang was asking to massage her back, Blake had to accept her friend wasn't offering it as a favor. Whatever her reasons, Yang _wanted_ to do it. "Why are you so hung up on it?"

"I'm not hung up on it, I'm just asking," Yang immediately huffed, turning her head to face the bed's headboard. Blake couldn't see her face anymore in this angle, and she suspected that was exactly why her partner had moved. Was she hiding her embarrassment?

"Four times," Blake pointed out.

"Because you're not giving me a straight answer," she argued.

A _straight_ answer was beyond her capacity. "And you haven't answered me either," she countered. "I won't let you if you're no good."

"I don't know if I'm any good, I don't do it often," she admitted. "And when I do it, Ruby says I use too much strength and it hurts, my dad says it's not enough and it doesn't do anything."

"That's not very encouraging." Not that she wouldn't let her try at the very least.

Her hand moved from underneath the pillow she hugged to scratch her blonde head of hair. She groaned. "Let me anyways," she demanded.

"...You _are_ hung up on it!"

She sighed exaggeratedly. "Fine, so what if I am? _Will you let me_?"

Blake was a bit at a loss, of course she would let her, but… "Why do you want to so badly?"

"No reason, it's not anything special anyways, it's just, your skin looks really soft, anyways it looked really soft when you were butt naked the other day and like, since it looks soft I want to get a good feel of it that's all," Yang rambled somewhat under her breath.

Completely immobile, Blake was trying to process what she'd just told her.

Her lack of answer seemed to agitate her friend, and Yang sort of fidgeted a bit, glancing back at her. "What?"

"...I'm…" she tried, but didn't really know what to say to that. "...Is that really why?"

The blonde squinted, looking a bit defensive. "It's your fault for asking me if I wanted to touch your skin the other day."

Blake _had_ indeed asked, quite provocatively at that – asking her if she intended on groping her butt through her skirt or if she wanted to feel her skin underneath it. That had been so extremely bold, Blake had no idea how she'd ever found it in herself to utter that suggestion. "I just wanted to be clear on what your plan was when you set your mind to feeling me up," she justified.

"Oh, ha-ha," Yang sarcastically huffed. "You said that because you wanted to taunt me and ended up raising the stakes," she unashamedly exposed. "Little did you know you played yourself because after seeing your cute butt in your birthday suit that other morning, petting you just reached like, top three priority in my life."

Now she felt her face flush with heat. "... _Petting_ me? What does that mean?"

Yang seemed to like that she was getting flustered. She had that sort of expression that made it clear she felt she had the upper hand. "It means exactly that."

Never mind sorting that out for the moment, and she was a bit scared to ask, but—"What are your other top two priorities?"

"One is making sure Ruby's safe and happy. Two is graduating."

 _Astounding_. "How can _petting me_ be as important as those…?"

She pursed her lips, raising unimpressed eyebrows. "Who are you to question my priorities?"

Blake stared down at her, dumbfounded. "...One of your priorities, apparently."

At this, Yang turned to her with her expression an unnervingly adorable blend of mischief and fondness. "I'm glad it's finally getting through that thick skull of yours."

Blake wondered how her friend would react if she grabbed her stupid gorgeous face in her hands and kissed her. She wanted to wipe that self-satisfied grin off her face.

Yang seemed thrilled to have won that word match. "So since you understand how huge of a priority it is, you'll let me do it, right?"

"Massage me?" Blake confirmed, finally finding her voice again. "...If it's _that_ important."

She somehow grinned even wider. "Don't say that like you aren't _dying_ to try my fingerwork."

The suggestion brought a phantom sensation of fingers inside of her; it was almost too much to bear. Blake wondered… _how_ could Yang keep pushing it this far without intent…? _Who_ would stay stuff like that, again and again, always raising the bar, always daring further… if the intent wasn't to provoke action? Was Blake being obtuse by not taking all that flirting literally? Was Yang in fact trying to get her to… act on it?

Thinking to herself that if Yang wanted to keep pushing, then maybe she should allow some give… Blake felt up to gamble. She wasn't crazy enough to make a move, but… what if she encouraged her to keep pushing, see what happens…? She slowly leaned over Yang, pressing one of her hands on the mattress next to her as she shifted her weight forward, closer. "I _am_ dying for it," Blake confessed under her breath. "I have this nagging tension I can't seem to shake off, your... _fingerwork_ would be exactly what I need."

Yang twisted around to meet her eyes. "Wait, really? You should've told me before!" she exclaimed, unfazed by how the faunus had gotten up in her space. "Where do you need to be rubbed down?"

"Couple of spots," she quietly answered.

Turning around a tad more bared even more of her naked chest, almost exposing it completely. "Okay, but you just said nagging tension?" Yang insisted. "I wanna help you get rid of _that_."

Blake couldn't keep her eyes from wandering. "I don't know, it's pretty sensitive. I'd need a gentle touch there."

"I can do that," Yang shot back, and that playful smile returned to her lips. "I'll start real soft. We'll ease into it, just let me know how you like it… and I'll keep it up until you're satisfied."

How utterly shameless. The hand still on her friend's back crawled up her spine. "You wanna satisfy me?"

She gave a shockingly sexy growl. "More than anything."

What that unleashed inside of Blake intoxicated her so, she must've lost her mind because she… wanted to stop playing. If she didn't make a move, she'd lose her mind and Blake decided she would kiss her. Her hand moved from her spine to the back of her head into the blonde hair. She would kiss her, and to hell with consequences. Her fingers drifted to her cheekbones and Blake tucked some blonde curls behind her ear. To hell with thinking of what then, of how to be friends after, of what to tell her, of… of Yang's horrified expression.

Blake paused in her advance.

In that moment her friend looked up at her with an adorably playful twinkle in her eye and a fittingly cheeky grin, blissfully unaware of Blake's intent. Nothing about Yang read tension, excitement or masked intent, and of course it didn't, because she was playing.

What was Blake thinking? _Of course_ Yang was playing. She'd almost made a horrific mistake. Blake sat back, exhaling an inaudible but shaky breath.

"What's up?" Yang chirped, probably addressing Blake's shifts in position. "Did you wanna switch now?"

It was probably best to roll with it. "…Yeah," she mumbled. Lying on her face in despair was pretty appealing right now.

With this, she got off her partner's butt to let her move. Yang started turning around, holding to her chest her blazer she'd been lying on. She then grabbed her bra and top, which Blake had brought next to the bed earlier, and Blake turned around to leave her some privacy to get dressed again. It took everything she had to not peek and gawk at her; she instead made herself lie down on her bed, burying her face in her pillow. It smelled a bit like Yang. She could hear the shuffling of fabric as her partner dressed herself again, and tried her best to tune it out.

The bed shifted as Yang sat again. "Wait, just like that?"

Blake's voice came muffled in the pillow. "What?"

"Your top," she pointed out.

Right. Yang wanted to _touch her skin_. As Blake sat up again and unbuttoned her black tailcoat vest, she pondered how normal this was between friends. The faunus reasoned that, to some extent, this might be explained by the reality of how women would always tend to compare themselves to others. Fussing over whether or not one part or another of their bodies looked good enough, worrying over their skin not being clear enough, fretting about the size of their chest, or stomach, or thighs or any other part. Women did compare an awful lot. Except Yang was an exceptionally confident person, so this was hardly about insecurities, was it? It seemed to be pure curiosity, which boggled Blake's mind. As she discarded the first layer of her outfit, the faunus noticed the amethyst gems were glued to her. She paused, waiting a second for her to stop looking. But she wasn't taking the cue, and Blake frowned. "Turn around."

"What?"

Wasn't it obvious? "Don't stare at me when I'm undressing."

Yang blinked in confusion. "Is it weird?"

"Yes."

"But we're both girls."

"And?"

The blonde scratched her head. "You change in the locker room, how is it different?"

"You don't openly stare at me in the locker room," Blake indicated.

She still looked puzzled. "It's the openly part that makes it weird?"

It took a second to register. Blake's face fell. "You stare at me in the locker room?"

"It's not like I stare, but I sorta look at everyone," Yang answered, still unfazed.

How was she supposed to take this…? At least Blake wasn't the sole target of her friend's curiosity—which also immediately disheartened her. It still baffled her how Yang admitted to all this so unconcernedly, though. Was Blake being a prude? She must've had a blank stare because her partner laughed.

"I mean, only a bit!" Yang said. "I'm not saying that in a weird way! But everyone's a bit curious about everyone else, no?"

Blake still felt it might be intrusive to scrutinize others in their underwear. Then again, maybe she was extra sensitive about this because of her own inclinations towards women. "I mind my own business."

Yang's eyes grew wide with disbelief. "Are you saying you never even _glanced_ at me or anyone else while we were changing?"

"...I didn't," the faunus warily affirmed. _Especially_ not at Yang. From time to time, Blake might have accidentally caught a glance at some classmates, but she'd been laser focused on avoiding looking at her partner at all costs. She had no idea what would show through if she looked at her. And she was scared she might never be able to detach her gaze.

"What, really!?"

"Why is that surprising? It's only common courtesy," Blake defended.

Yang crossed her arms in baffled contemplation. "I don't know, I figured you would've been curious too," she explained.

For a second, she was scared her friend had seen through her. But it couldn't be. Because if she had, _now_ wouldn't be the moment Yang would let her know, not after all that flirting. "Curious about what?"

"How different we all look," she answered, as if it was the most obvious thing.

Well, Blake _was_ curious to see her naked, but not for the reasons Yang might've believed. "I'm not interested in that."

The blonde stared at her for a second, clearly unconvinced. "...That's not really true, is it?" she said. "Otherwise, you wouldn't stare at my boobs so often, now would you?"

As chill flushed down her spine, Blake felt her throat tie itself. How cold her fingers suddenly had gotten let her guess that her blood draining from her skin undoubtedly had made her pale too. She had tried really hard not to stare, and she _knew_ she couldn't help doing it sometimes, but she had no idea her friend had been aware of just how often that happened.

Receiving no answer, Yang must've felt she needed to justify her claim, because she continued. "I mean, I know they're hard not to notice, because they're bigger than average. I can't fault anyone for like… noticing. I know they attract attention," she reasoned. "But like… you're not getting over it. You keep staring."

Unable to look at her, Blake opened her mouth to attempt to defend herself, but no sound came out. What was there to say? It wasn't like she could deny what Yang had noticed with her own two eyes. She was starting to feel sick.

"Hey," Yang's voice was much gentler this time around, "it's fine, you know? I was just saying that because… well, I'm just surprised you haven't looked in the locker room. That's all. I didn't want to make you feel weird about it by pointing it out."

She dared a peek at her, feeling her blood pressure go down a bit. "You don't feel weird about it?"

"Not really. I mean, I figured you might… I don't know. Maybe wish yours were bigger?" She explained awkwardly. "Lots of girls want bigger boobs."

Blake felt like she could breathe again. It wasn't farfetched that Yang would interpret it like that; she'd probably been the target of more envious gazes that she could remember.

Trying to catch her eyes, Yang leaned a bit closer. "I hope it's not that though, they _really_ don't need to be any bigger, you look perfect already. Too big is a bit of a pain, you know?"

Trying to wrap her head around the fact that they were really having this conversation, Blake swiftly decided she didn't want to engage in trying to convince her she was satisfied with the size of her chest. She _was_ satisfied, but she didn't want Yang to attempt to figure out why else Blake might stare so often. "It's fine, I'm fine," the faunus finally managed, trying to move the conversation along.

Quickly, and since Yang had already seen her this often in her underwear anyways, she wangled out of her white top, throwing it to the side of the bed.

Yang's eyes fell on the newly exposed skin and her face went blank. "Uh…" She straightened up. "Yeah, uh... after all maybe..." she trailed off as she turned around. "One on one like that, it's really not the same as the locker room."

Blake sighed– although she didn't know if it was relief or disappointment. She unfastened her bra and slid her arms out of the shoulder straps but kept the cups against herself as she lay on her stomach and gathered her hair to the side to free her back. "I'm ready."

It took a second, but the bed shifted as Yang moved over her. Her knees on each side of Blake made the mattress sink as she sat on her butt, straddling her. She was heavy. And really warm. After another moment, Blake felt her hands. They slowly caressed her naked skin down the entire surface of her back without applying any pressure to start massaging her, like she was getting a feel for her canvas. It felt extremely good to be caressed so gently.

"Your skin is crazy soft," Yang whispered in awe, gliding her hands up her back again delicately.

Blake shut her eyes tightly, exhaling a controlled breath. "So, you're satisfied?"

"No, never, I mean, I think I could do this all day," she laughed. "I don't think I can ever have enough, it's like the softest thing I ever touched."

She resisted an eye roll. "That's a lie."

"It's not—" Yang stopped to think for a second. "…Well, the fur on your ears is softer, yeah."

"I'm sure you've touched softer things than… me."

"Well, I don't remember _enjoying_ touching anything else half as much."

This was such a wide opening to flirt; she wasn't sure if Yang had meant to bait her to say something or not. Ultimately, Blake decided that for her own sanity, it was better not to go down that path. "Just… start. Please."

Softly, Yang's fingers found her neck, slowly rubbing down along her spine. "How's that…?"

"Too gentle," Blake murmured. The pressure increased a little, but it still felt like her friend was afraid to hurt her. "More, Yang."

"Really?" She sounded very surprised. "Ruby can't take this much."

The faunus hummed in understanding. "I'm fine, though. You can go much harder."

She felt Yang's weight shift from the way it rested on her butt forward to the top of her back as she applied herself to massaging her shoulders. Blake held back a groan; she hadn't realized herself how tense she'd been, and the pressure was just sublime. "Like that. That's just right," her instructed, her voice wavering.

"Woah, really?" She exclaimed in what appeared to be pleasant surprise. "That's great for me too—I mean. If this much is okay, then I won't need to be mindful of holding back or be careful not to hurt you."

"I know you're unusually strong, but you should know by now that I can handle you, Yang," she commented.

"True! And like no one else at that," she brightly shot back. "You're the perfect fit for me."

Blake's hands curled into fists under the pillow. "Don't say that."

"Why not?"

 _Because it hurts!_ "Because I'm not," she affirmed, reminding herself that if they were such a perfect fit, then Yang would also feel the same attraction to her. "You… _must_ have a soulmate somewhere who's an even better match."

Yang snorted amusedly. "That's really hard to imagine," she said.

"So how does that bode for your love life?"

She thought about it for a short moment. "...Well maybe I don't need love," she decided.

And Blake knew she was just saying that to shrug it off because Yang was in one of those buttheaded moods. She knew she was just shrugging it off because she knew Yang wanted a family, _children_. So Yang claiming that she could ever settle with anything less, with something like travelling around with Blake, forever celibate, until they both were too old to be huntresses… it didn't sit well with her. But Blake had no energy to argue that right then, because she knew Yang would be a butthead about it, so she opted to address something her friend seemed to be overlooking. "...What if _I_ need love?"

This clearly stumped her because Yang stopped moving for a while. After a moment, Blake could feel fingers softly digging in her hair to find the scalp at the back of her head. They comfortingly scratched for a few seconds before Yang spoke again. "I'll always root for whatever makes you happy," she affirmed, a tone to her voice Blake couldn't pinpoint. The fingers started combing through the black hair extremely kindly and Blake closed her eyes, relishing in how loving the attention was. She heard Yang give a quiet sigh before she added, "he'll be a lucky guy."

She had to bite her tongue. It itched at her to say something about it, but she hadn't _completely_ crossed out the possibility of settling with a man. Not to mention, she truly wasn't ready to let her know it might not be a man. Letting Yang know of her preference for women would certainly open her eyes and allow her to see Blake's behavior in another light. _And_ telling her after having been half naked like that probably wasn't the best timing. She felt Yang's fingers slide on her cheek to tuck dark bangs behind her ear, and she did it again, probably for stray strands she hadn't gotten the first time.

"...You know," Yang quietly started, now brushing the bangs from her forehead to uncover her eyes properly, "you're _really_ beautiful, you know?"

Blake's eyes fluttered open. Even out of the corner of her eye, she could see her friend pretty well thanks to how she'd leaned over her. "...You've told me before," she murmured.

"I know, but… I don't think you realize just how," her partner claimed, still gazing down at her in earnest wonderment. "Sometimes I'm in awe because… I don't know, it's surreal. I didn't know a real person could be so beautiful."

Her face had grown a bit hot; on her part Blake was still boggled with how much her friend evidently admired her looks. "Saying that while I'm half-naked really was the best moment you could think of?"

Yang laughed. "Maybe _because_ you're half-naked I'm forced to notice it again now," she explained. "I mean, you're just lying there, completely natural, and you're so crazy stunning. While… girls get dolled up and use filters and pose their selfies and they don't look half as good as you do, you know?"

Now she couldn't keep eye contact. "…Thanks."

"Hey, I think it's the first time you've just accepted the compliment," the blonde said playfully.

"It's not the first time," Blake mumbled. "I know because if I don't, you keep going."

Her hands returned to her back. "Do I do that?"

She held in a groan. "More often than not."

Yang hummed thoughtfully. "I guess I really want to get my point across."

All this made her think back on how her friend had been curiously examining her in the infirmary room when Blake had come to, and what question Yang had asked after faltering to dare further in unbuttoning Blake's shirt. "So, did you want to switch bodies with me?"

She laughed again. "Nah, I'd be way too narcissistic," Yang unashamedly admitted. "I can't be you; I love watching you too much."

The faunus had noticed as much. "I don't enjoy being stared at," she remarked.

The massaging stopped. "Not even knowing they're admiring stares?"

"Not even," Blake retorted, glancing back at her.

Yang had a sheepish grin. "I'm in trouble then."

How stupidly cute. And though it was true that Blake abhorred any type of staring from anyone else, being the focus of _Yang's_ attention always made her feel invigorated. "...You're my best friend, I can deal if it's you," she excused in a low mumble.

Yang's palms suddenly pressed more onto her back and Blake gave her a glance in time to see all the stars in her eyes. She looked about to explode. "You said it," she squeaked. "Your _best friend_ …!"

The wind was knocked out of her as Yang dropped herself on her in an attempt to hug her, which was very challenging with the way Blake laid on her stomach. She excitedly rubbed her cheek against the back of her shoulder like a pet might, before she started showering her with kisses. The frenzied onslaught of kisses on Blake's shoulder and head was startling, but it didn't take long for Blake's initial reaction of clenching up to shield herself to thaw into amusement, then hilarity, and she surprised even herself with a short, boisterous screech which only threw oil on the fire. Yang gave an exaggerated half-laughed growl as she grabbed her like she might tickle her and continued with kissing any area she could reach; her head and her temple and her cheek and suddenly their noses were touching, and Blake's eyes were wide in shock. She hadn't realized how close Yang had gotten, and Yang didn't seem to have realized what was happening either, not until it was almost happening, which brought her excitement to a screeching halt. Time was suspended for the second time in the last hour as, again, their lips were a mere inch from each other's. How did this happen?

Yang hastily straightened up. "Sorry," she blurted. She didn't seem to know where to settle her gaze. "I got carried away."

Blake held her breath; it couldn't be clearer that Yang had felt it this time. The edge Yang had also felt, she didn't read as _'danger'_ this time. It had been a perfect moment to kiss and Yang had undeniably felt it. She had recoiled so fast. "It's okay," Blake managed.

"Really?" she gave a forced laugh. "I mean, you looked scared for a second there."

Had she? It had been pure shock, not fear. The look on Blake's face was why Yang had pulled away as abruptly as way she had? … it wasn't the moment itself that made Yang want to tear away? "I wasn't scared," Blake quietly answered. "You just took me by surprise."

Yang scratched the back of her head. She didn't seem to want to look at her. "Yeah… sorry," she repeated, quickly busying herself with resuming her work on her back.

This silence was unlike any other one they'd had between them. It was strained and unnatural and Blake hated it. She wondered if Yang could feel the new tension in her body, or her heart slamming erratically into her ribcage; the brawler's rough hands carefully knead around her shoulder blades after all. Yang was a bit gentler with her than she'd been a few moments ago. The way her thumbs were awkwardly trying to rub the strain out of her back didn't seem too committed, like she didn't think she could do much about it.

As if to corroborate all that, Yang's voice rose again. "Do you want me to stop, Blake?" She quietly asked.

It was hard to tell if the reason her partner offered was because Yang was feeling awkward about touching her after that brush with intimacy, if she thought _Blake_ might be uneasy, or if it was both. "You can stop if you're tired of it," the dark haired woman answered carefully.

"I'm not tired of it," Yang quickly said, "but… uh… you're… more tense now than earlier."

Which made her tense a little more, in spite of what she would've wanted. "Sorry."

"No, I mean, it's my fault," the blonde affirmed. "It's my fault it got… weird. And I was wondering if… you were uncomfortable. If you'd rather I stop."

Blake shook her head faintly. "I'm okay."

"Sure?" Her voice was awfully unconvinced.

"Yes, Yang." She raised herself on her elbows to half-turn so she could properly look at her . "I was just surprised," the faunus reiterated. It was obvious from the way Yang gazed back at her that she could tell it wasn't all there was, even if she didn't know what else there was. Blake's gaze drifted down, through the room, and to the pillow she'd been lying on a second ago. Of course, she couldn't explain it to her, and she knew Yang wouldn't fault her for that. Yet even not wanting to leave things hanging with such unease, she didn't really know what to say. Blake rested her head on her pillow again. "I don't want you to stop," she affirmed.

"…Alright," Yang reluctantly agreed. It was another second, but she resumed properly massaging her shoulders, putting her weight into it. "I want you to tell me though, anytime if anything I do isn't fine anymore."

"I know," she murmured, closing her eyes again. "I also know that… in the unlikely event that this would happen and there _is_ something I'm not fine with… you'd notice you overstepped and back off before I would have to tell you anything."

"What if I don't notice it's not okay?"

"You always notice everything about me," Blake dismissed. Her partner really had a sixth sense for everything when it came to her.

Yang wasn't satisfied. "But what if I don't?" She insisted.

The faunus hummed pensively. She couldn't for the life of her imagine a situation in which she wouldn't be comfortable with her partner touching her… in _any_ way Yang might want to touch her. Besides, she found even _more_ challenging to imagine a situation where Yang wouldn't be mindful of her wellbeing. "…If you don't notice, if you're _that_ distraught, then it probably means _you_ need the comfort," she reasoned quietly. "And I'll never push you away, Yang, never."

There was a long pause with no answer, and Yang had also stopped moving. Her hands were still on Blake's back, though they were much warmer than they'd been. Maybe a little clammy too. Eventually, the pressure of her weight returned in the middle of Blake's back as she leaned in again, and Blake felt her kiss her head incredibly gently. Yang then leaned her forehead to the back of Blake's head, took a moment to collect herself, and sat up again to continue kneading her back.

The silence they settled in, this time, was the sort of silence that would often linger between them. Blake loved those. It was the kind of quiet, peaceful moments they would often share after classes. Barely talking at all, both of them occupied with their own hobbies or homework, but comfortably lounging together for hours on end. It was even better than usual—because honestly, getting massaged by Yang was the pinnacle of bliss. She was _so good_ at it. She would instinctively locate Blake's tensions and applied strong, steady pressure, slowly coaxing her body to relax. It hurt a bit at times, but it was a sort of release, it was a good pain,and Blake relished in it. She hadn't even noticed their two teammates had come back until she heard Ruby's voice.

"Oh, you've switched around?"

Blake cracked her eyes open; her vision was a bit blurry.

"Yeah," Yang answered, "since Blake took over after you only out of the goodness of her heart, it was fair that I pay her back."

Blake found it interesting that her friend didn't outright tell her sister how the actual reason was that she simply wanted to touch another woman's skin. Was that conscious omission?

Ruby looked aghast. "She's not hurting you, Blake?"

Remembering how Yang had explained how her sister really couldn't handle much pressure, the faunus gave a weak hum and a feeble shake of her head. "The way she does it is actually just right for me."

"You hear that?" Yang boasted. "She said _just right_."

Which seemed to horrify their team leader. "You _like_ the way she touches you?"

Even knowing that the grimace Ruby sported as she said this wasn't intended to target the idea of two women together, that it was simply because, to Ruby, being at the mercy of her sister was some form of torture that she simply couldn't conceive how anyone might enjoy it, a deep feeling of humiliation traversed Blake's body with a chill. She couldn't find her voice to answer.

"You're just flimsy," Yang threw. "It's why you suck at hand to hand combat too, you need to put a little muscle on yourself."

Ruby stuck her tongue out at her. "I'm a speed model," she argued. "Can't be too heavy."

"Enough with your infantile behavior," Weiss grumbled, putting away her books and studying material. "Were you two almost done? Ruby and I need to get in bed soon if we want to be properly rested for our exam."

"I had just started on Blake," Yang said, though she'd been at it for at least twenty minutes. "Give us another fifteen and we'll get ready for bed too?"

With a nod, Weiss started to undo her hair, proceeding with her night routine. "How nice, taking care of their partner like that," she commented.

"Right?" Ruby chirped, not taking the cue at all. She disappeared into the bathroom for a shower.

—

 **tbc**


	6. Chapter 6

Lying on her stomach on Blake's bed, Yang pursed her lips at the geography manual laid open in front of her. She knew she had to memorize the grounds because of the mission they'd be assigned to in a few days, but it was _so_ boring. Her eyes drifted to her partner sitting next to her. One cat ear twitched, like Blake had noticed from the corner of her eye that Yang had turned her attention to her. The faunus nevertheless paid her no mind, likely because the novel she was reading was volume four of a series she'd been avidly following; it was one of the books she'd bought on their date. The cover of said book had two women staring intently at each other. Yang figured they were either rivals or enemies.

Whatever. She was bored with her studies. "I had a dream about you," the blonde announced.

"A good one, I hope," Blake gave, not raising her eyes from her book.

"I think so," she mused, watching delicate fingers turn a page.

"What do you mean, you think so?" Her partner inattentively indulged her.

Yang scooted closer, bending forward slightly to try to catch her gaze. "I don't remember much about it."

The gold color of her eyes was obscured by her eyelashes as they remained cast downwards, entirely focused on her book. "So how do you know it was about me?"

Stretching her neck the way she was to get into her field of vision nearly made it cramp. "You were there."

"It's not because I was there that it was about me."

"No," Yang promptly argued, "it was _definitely_ about you, your presence was overwhelmingly there. Almost like it was all there was," she explained.

"Presence?" She repeated, finally lowering her book. "Like the aura link?"

She might've finally gotten her attention, but now she felt put on the spot, and she didn't have much to say about it. "Yes and no? Not like you melded with me like what happens with the aura link, but like, still really close. I don't really remember."

"Why are you telling me about it if you don't remember anything?"

"I don't know, it was intense, and I wish I remembered," she thought out loud. "I think I just hoped talking about it could make me remember."

"Maybe it was a nightmare," she dryly offered.

Yang laughed. "I wouldn't have nightmares about you," she dismissively started, but as something came to her, her expression changed. "Wait, that's not true. If you got hurt really bad in one of my dreams, then it'd be a nightmare about you, wouldn't it?"

"It would, yes."

"But it wasn't a nightmare," Yang nevertheless reiterated. "I woke up really energized, like thrilled even."

"And you remember _nothing_ of it," she stressed, her curiosity evidently piqued.

"Nothing specific, except like I said, being really close," she gestured between the two of them, attempting to will a memory to the surface. "Maybe hugging," she then suggested thoughtfully, and Blake's features tightened as the most bizarre sort of disbelieving squint emerged. She also sort of awkwardly fumbled with her book, pressing the front cover to her thighs like she'd wanted to hide it. "What?" Yang asked, pursing her lips.

"You had a dream about being really close to me," she said, earning herself a nod from the blonde. "Physically close to me," She then tentatively confirmed, earning herself a second nod. "And it was... _intense…_?"

Now that she said it like that, Yang suddenly felt very self-conscious. The very blurry image that remained of that dream, one of being entwined with Blake along with an intense feeling of bonding, exhilaration and belonging, passed through her. And now, though she'd insistently brought it up, she was filled with an unsettling feeling of discomfiture and she wanted to brush it all away. "Maybe it _was_ a dream about the aura link," she dismissed.

Blake kept staring at her for another moment, like maybe she was searching for something else in her features or in her eyes. Puzzled, Yang only stared back, letting herself be analyzed; it wasn't like she had anything to hide, and anyways, Blake was incredibly good at reading her, so it would've been a lost cause to attempt to shy away from her.

The hint of suspicion that dimly glowed in her eyes went out and Blake sighed, leaning back again. "I'm sorry to have made you do it again, I didn't imagine it would torment you," she offered.

"Oh no, don't worry about that!" Yang exclaimed at once. "I _totally_ had been wanting to try it again too! And I'd really like to do it again some other time even," she enthusiastically explained.

The faunus shook her head. "We can't do that," she firmly answered. "It can't happen again."

Remembering how abruptly Blake had torn away forced some residual sensation of the horrid void to the surface like a kick in the stomach. With it, fear started to grip and tighten Yang's insides with the idea that Blake might never again grace her with this wonderfully warm feeling of kinship, unity, and belonging. Yang sat up at once. "Why?! It's not like we have access to memories," she disputed, thinking that might be the culprit behind her partner's qualms. "It's not like I can pry on any of those things you don't want to talk about when we're linked; you don't have to worry about that."

"I know I don't," she answered, remaining firmly unswayed. "But this isn't a game, Yang. It's not something that can be played with. We were taught to do it only for emergency purposes."

Hearing this for justification stung, and Yang didn't know why it stung her so because it wasn't like her friend was wrong- this _wasn't_ a game. Yet, she refused to let it go. "You were the one who asked to do it last time and you're saying that now?" she reproached.

"I didn't think it through," Blake acknowledged. "I shouldn't have asked this of you that day. And after the pain it put us through _twice_ , I went to read more on it," she explained, capturing Yang's attention with that last bit. With how cautious her partner looked, the golden of her eyes seemed dimmer than how it usually shone. Blake exhaled shortly. "...Weiss was right," she then said. "When Ruby and she separated, they didn't feel awful the way we did. It's because we're doing something wrong."

Calling it wrong felt like a slap in the face. "It doesn't feel wrong," Yang instantly argued. Except when they separated, that was awfully wrong.

"I meant, we did the exercise wrong," Blake corrected. "Or rather… we went further than we should have been able to."

The way Blake talked about it made it seem like only with years of training could they have managed it. Yet, it was puzzling to Yang how they could've done any less; it hadn't required much effort on her part to do what they had done. Only when she stopped to think about it, thinking of how far it felt like she'd sunk in that shrouding darkness that was her partner's aura, of how it had felt like encroaching on sacred territory when she found that softly glowing violet at the core of her being, did what Blake explained about going further than she should have started to make sense. Had Blake had that same experience when exploring Yang's aura? Had she felt like she'd been trespassing? ...Had that been why Blake had said that she didn't belong there the first time she was immersed in Yang's aura…?

"So what are you saying?" The blonde quietly asked. "What if we can do more than what's _'supposed'_ to happen? What's the problem? What are we supposed to get from knowing that?"

Blake stared back, evidently a little at a loss. "I don't know, Yang," she admitted with a sigh. "I don't know why we can so easily reach a part of each other we should never have been able to find or what it means, and I don't know what could happen—none of the research seems to agree on what happens once the threshold of… expendable aura is crossed," she carefully explained.

Expendable aura, the choice of words made Yang very aware of what they were dealing with. It was common knowledge that the aura was a manifestation of the soul, but aura nevertheless _was_ expendable. It was like fruits from a tree – even were the fruits be picked off until there was none left, the tree would assuredly make more in due time. And if aura was comparable to the fruit, then the thing that _wasn't_ expendable, the tree, the source of the aura? That was their very soul.

So what was Blake telling her? That they hadn't simply been handling the harvest? That they'd… _somehow_ reached the sacred grounds that tree stood on?

Yang stared down into her eyes. Thinking of that space she'd entered deep down in Blake's being, it had felt very private, almost holy, and it felt right to think of it as where her soul resided. "So what you're saying is, it isn't _just_ the aura…? Is it… uh…?" It was a bit embarrassing to say out loud, she didn't know why.

Blake shrugged. "There isn't a lot of documentation on what exactly lets people go… beyond," she resumed, also seemingly hell-bent on avoiding wording what they were both tiptoeing around. "And apparently, it's also challenging to find candidates for this because it's… somewhat rare that two people can do what we did to start with. Plus, in all cases documented… those who _were_ able to do it could only ever do it with the one person with who it works."

This resonated with the deep certainty that Yang had had, something she had even confessed to Blake some time earlier; that if this was going to happen, it would happen with _her_ , and no one else. And she'd already known it deep in her heart, but hearing it corroborated by scientific research still shook Yang because it was now a _fact_ that Blake was unique to her. It was a fact that there would never be anyone else in the world who would bond with her the same as Blake.

"Okay. So even though it's rare, we happen to be able to do… _that_ ," Yang conceded. "But so what? Why does that mean that we shouldn't do it?"

"Because we don't know all the ways in which it might affect us," Blake repeated. "We thought we were fooling around with some surface abilities when we've been treading near something that might affect our very being."

"But we don't _know_ it would," Yang flatly stated, some part of her didn't want it to be true because then it meant they _really_ shouldn't do it again. "There's no proof even that… _that's_ what's happening either."

"There's strong implications."

"But we don't know for sure," the blonde obstinately argued.

"But what if it _is_ our very soul?" Blake finally said. They'd both been avoiding saying that word, they'd both been avoiding implying that they might have grazed something this unimaginably special within each other, but there was only so much tiptoeing they could do. The faunus's golden orbs searched hers, like Blake was looking for some sort of answer in her eyes. "And what if we can't separate properly? What if some part of me becomes part of you forever?" She posed.

Yang knew this possibility was no laughing matter, but she still felt her lips stretch into a grin. "But you already _are_ part of me forever."

Blake's eyebrows furrowed deeply. "I'm being serious!"

"Yeah, me too," the blonde offered with a small sigh, her smile not completely gone. "I mean, what I'm saying isn't as literal as what you're suggesting, but… you're a huge part of my life, you know?"

The faunus's expression softened somewhat, but she remained unflappable. "Yang…" she murmured dejectedly, for once not letting herself be swept up in the mushiness.

It really disconcerted her. Usually Blake would inevitably get swayed when Yang would be corny or melodramatic, and it really, _really_ hit her hard that her partner remained immovable. Which, being so perturbed over Blake not getting swayed only unsettled her even more. Was it such a big deal that she was shrugging this claim off? "Even if it's not literal, it's not like it doesn't mean anything," Yang contended, suddenly feeling extremely defensive.

"I'm not saying it doesn't," Blake empathetically answered. "I'm not dismissing your feelings at all… but it still _is_ two completely different matters. You can't write off the risks we might be taking because we don't know what this could do to our very biology. What if we mess up something _this_ fundamental?"

Yang understood completely; with it spelled out plainly like that, it was hard _not_ to understand what sort of risk they might be taking. And the way she stared back at Blake evidently let her know that Yang _did_ understand because the faunus's features now relaxed fully.

Nevertheless, Yang felt the urge to lighten the mood and clear the air and she gathered herself to put on a mischievous grin. "I gotta say though, I wouldn't mind having a tiny part of you in my heart," she declared. The understanding that had passed between them a second ago let her friend guess that Yang was going back to this solely to lighten the mood, and the faunus offered her a faint smile. It emboldened the blonde, and she leaned closer. "Imagine? A tiny dot of purple in my yellow aura would look the same way my eyes look with my hair!"

Blake rolled her eyes, "Idiot," she mumbled, but her smile widened as she returned to her novel.

Yang hunched forward even more, trying to catch her gaze again. "It'd match for you too if I left you with a tiny yellow dot," she pointed out.

Her ears twitched, but her eyes stayed on her book. "That's right, I'd never stopped to think about it, but the color of our eyes _does_ match the other's aura."

"And don't they say that the eyes are the windows to the soul?" Yang grinned.

"If that was the case, then you would have yellow eyes and I would have violet ones," the faunus commented.

"Well, if I had part of you, then it _would_ work. Like I said, small dot," she pointed at her eyes, "big color," she designated her hair, and saying it like that brought an image to mind. "We could be… a living Yin- _Yang_."

Blake raised her eyes from her book.

The blonde's grin widened.

She impassively stared at her. "You think you're funny don't you."

"I _know_ I'm funny."

The faunus raised her book in front of her face like a barrier. "I'm done listening to you."

Yang stared at the novel's cover for a few seconds before her eyes dropped down to her forgotten school manual. As silence took hold of the moment, Yang laid back on her stomach, attempting to return to her studies. Her mind nevertheless wouldn't let go of what had been said.

Sure, Blake had been unquestionably right as she pointed out that, were that adage to be true, then they would have their own aura's eye color… but the eyes bearing some sort of connection, or telling some sort of story about one's soul was an idea she had trouble letting go of.

Maybe they weren't windows, but mirrors of the soul?

Still didn't work because, if anything, her eyes mirrored _Blake's_ aura color.

And coincidentally, Blake's eyes mirrored her own aura.

Yang frowned to herself.

Or maybe _not_ coincidentally? Because going by some highly regarded people, destiny was something to believe in. And since everyone knew aura color was significant… it felt like too much of a stretch to call a coincidence the fact that, out of all the colors of the spectrum, they had each other's aura's colors as their eye color, _and_ they could do that very rare thing about the diving beneath the expandable aura.

Yang glanced up at her partner again for a short second, quickly returning to blankly staring at the map of Vale in her book.

Thinking back on the first time Blake and she had tried to link, in that class, there were only a handful of other students that had seemed to react the same way they had. At best three other pairs out of over a hundred students. Yang mostly didn't remember who it was or what their eye and aura colors were, but she _did_ remember among them was Ren and Nora. And she _also_ knew that those two had the same sort of eye color - aura colors mirror that she had with Blake, so that corroborated her notion that it shouldn't be dismissed.

The blonde found herself staring at her partner again- the one special person with who she could ever be bonded so. The only person who'd ever witness and experience Yang's most true essence, who'd ever touch her soul. _Literally_.

That almost sounded like soulmates, didn't it?

Suddenly mortified, Yang had to look away again. If such a thing existed, _if_ , a big if, why would she be lucky enough to have found that other half? And... wouldn't it be a guy anyways? Unless… some people _did_ call it sister souls, didn't they? She was definitely ready to believe that. After all, she _knew_ that what she'd found inside Blake, what had been beneath the layer that had felt like a vast ocean of darkness that had Yang want to drown in forever, that place that had felt like a secret garden… Yang knew without a shadow of a doubt that it had been the source of her being. And if Yang was the only one who would ever be able to penetrate this space, to stand so near her soul… then it didn't matter how it was called.

All that sounded like such a childishly romantic fairytale, her embarrassment shot through the roof. Yang dropped her head face first in her book and rubbed her forehead to the page with a groan. She felt a hand gently rest on her head.

"Don't give yourself a headache studying," Blake said, sounding still absorbed in her story.

"I'm okay," she mumbled. "But keep petting my hair."

Blake indulged her request, and they settled into a comfortable silence again. How cozy and pleasant the moment was filled Yang with rare beatitude, it made her wish it could last forever. It made her wish she could indeed rob her of a tiny fraction of her aura, so she could feel this peaceful and connected even were she to be without Blake. The image of both of them with a small ball of each other's color nestled in their chest made her heart flutter. She wanted to be imprinted with Blake's essence. She wanted that trace of her on her soul forever. And she also wanted Blake to be similarly imprinted with hers. And she wanted Blake to want it. She told herself that it was only fair, and that this way Blake could always have something to turn to, to hold onto, some inner support to always draw strength from… but… Yang knew she simply liked the idea of her partner owning even just a tiny part of her. It made her feel like she had a place where she belonged, and God knew that was something she'd longed for. She turned her head just enough to look at her again, and Blake mistook this as a signal to stop, her fingers left the golden curls.

It made the very fact of existence less agreeable, and Yang was about to complain, but she knew that there was no way she'd be able to focus on studying if Blake kept it up, and she direly needed to study.

Accepting her fate, she tried to get herself to focus. Yang twirled her highlighter pen in her fingers, gazing at her book disinterestedly. "Have you already finished this chapter?"

"I'm not taking that class."

"Right." That slot of Blake's schedule was filled with a history class about the Great War, which she was taking with Ruby, Jaune and Pyrrha. "Why not, though?"

"I already know enough about the outskirts of Vale," Blake explained. "I operated there with the White Fang for almost a year."

It boggled Yang's mind she'd skimp on such an opportunity. "Exactly!" She exclaimed. "All the more reason you should've taken it! You'd have had an easy time and good grades!"

As she turned to her, Blake looked a little peeved. "I'm here to learn, not take it easy and coast by. I want to grow the most I can and become the most capable I can so I can make a difference."

Yang's lips tightened, feeling her skin flush with shame. Of course Blake's reasoning went nothing like your typical high schooler. Or rather, it went nothing like most people's. Blake was impossibly goal-oriented and serious; you wouldn't find many people who, even not knowing what path to take or how to make a difference, would nevertheless work at bettering themselves with such focus.

"This is why I look up to you," Yang found herself saying.

"What?"

"You're always serious about being better. And it makes me want to take all that seriously too," she explained. "That's why I want to go with you when we graduate. I don't care where you go, I know the best place I can be at is wherever you are."

Blake's cat ears flattened backwards, it was impossibly cute. She remained riveted to her novel, but it didn't look like she was reading at all.

Yang smiled. "And maybe I'll be able to offer you something in return."

"You say that like you haven't already," she replied, giving a glance her way. Yang blankly stared at her for a second and Blake looked puzzled with it. "Yang, there's a reason I told you that you're the best decision I ever made," she said, "and likely... that I will have ever made."

Hearing Blake say that again made an upsurge of giddiness shoot through her, it was a challenge to control and Yang huffed, attempting to cover it up. "Is that what you'll tell your future husband at the altar? That _I'm_ your best decision?"

"Hmm-hm," she nonchalantly acquiesced.

Yang's pompous air fell. "No, seriously."

"Seriously," Blake flatly answered, her nose in her book.

"Seriously!"

Blake put her novel down to look at her. "First of all, I don't see myself with a husband," she noted.

Yang rolled her eyes. "Even if you never intended on getting married. I meant like. Your long term life partner. You know."

"Well, how long did you want our adventure to be?"

She'd never thought about that, but projecting her future after graduation, all she could imagine was roaming every corner of Remnant as an inseparable duo. She knew she wanted kids along the way, and she had no idea how she'd reconcile that, but then again nothing prevented her from living a nomadic lifestyle _and_ raising kids. "I don't know… until we're old ladies?"

There was something of a gleam in her eyes that Yang didn't recognize. "Then wouldn't that make _you_ my long term life partner?" Blake proposed.

Yang laughed. "Yeah, okay, sure," she allowed, returning to her book. Before she knew it, the image of how she'd almost kissed her invaded her mind.

 _Right_ , that had happened.

Again, she felt warmth flush her neck. She didn't know why she was thinking about it again now, but some time ago as they'd been massaging each other, in her frenzied excitement of finally hearing Blake call her her _best_ friend, she had started kissing her partner's shoulder and head, and Yang hadn't realized what had been happening then, but she'd just unthinkingly moved in. She still had no idea what had possessed her, but she _truly_ had been a heartbeat away from kissing her friend. It was baffling and outlandish, but… it had felt like the natural thing to do at that moment. Thankfully, Blake's aghast expression had slapped Yang back to reality in time, because otherwise… she might have made things very awkward. Not that they _hadn't_ been awkward for a few minutes back there, as Blake had evidently realized what had been about to happen, but they'd thankfully pulled through that awkwardness pretty fast. Yang had no idea how she would've handled all this had it alienated Blake enough for her to take a step back and reassess their closeness. She'd been terrified she might have forever broken something between them, but no, instead, Blake quickly reassured her, even saying that she'd never push her away. It was evidently to comfort her, to put her at ease again, but it really had made Yang feel tremendously better.

Unthinkingly, she drew a heart in her book with her flashy yellow highlighter.

It was probably better not to delve too much on all that. Or maybe it wasn't _better_ , but since it bothered her, she'd rather shrug it off. Something about her impulse didn't sit quite right, and what unsettled her most was that it felt like the answer was right in her face and she still couldn't put her finger on it. It was like she was staring at a picture way too zoomed in and scrutinizing a corner made it impossible to discern what she was starting at. But even knowing she was looking at it too close, she still didn't know how to take a step back to see the whole picture either.

So for the moment, she'd rather just close her eyes instead of staring at something so dizzyingly hard to decipher. Someday it'll jump out at her and she'll figure it out, no use wracking her brain in frustration.

She fished inside her pencil case to find her purple highlighter and filled out the yellow heart with it.

* * *

Yang's eyes fluttered open. Right away, the shuffling she heard tipped her sluggish brain off as to what might have stirred her. She sat up in her bed and waited to be sure she heard right, and it wasn't too long before she heard faint lamenting paired with some more scuffling underneath her. Her feet touched the ground the next second.

She had learned from a young age to keep an ear out for distress, what with taking care of Ruby for so long, and it indeed had been years since her younger sister had last needed her to get up in the middle of the night, but Yang had never unlearned that skill. She was so very glad for it, because though Blake never called for her the way Ruby had when she was still a child -in fact, Blake never once asked for her solace-, Yang couldn't bear the thought of leaving her tormented without any support.

Yang did suspect that her partner had nightmares more often than she knew of, that most of the time they wouldn't agitate Blake enough to stir the both of them. In the end, happened once or twice a month that she would be so agitated that Yang would come down to soothe her. Those nightmares would be especially bad; at times, Blake would fight her bed covers and knock things off the nightstand as she'd throw them off. And when they were really bad, the faunus even cried in her sleep.

Tonight wasn't the worst Yang had witnessed, but seeing Blake's features contorted with pain and grief along with her eyelashes wet with unshed tears was nevertheless poignant.

Yang leaned one knee on the bed, grabbing her friend by the shoulders. "Hey," she softly called, careful not to disturb the red and white pair. "Blake, wake up," she cooed, bringing one hand to her cheek. The skin was damp from the stress and high emotions, and Blake inhaled sharply at the contact, instantly stiffening. Her breathing picked up erratically as she started struggling against the hand still on her shoulder. The blonde's alarm skyrocketed. "Blake…!" She pled more urgently, shaking her gently.

Golden eyes barely cracking open let the tears roll from her eyelashes, and distress seized her features again. "It hurts," Blake choked out, resisting her until her pupils focused. Her body went limp as she realized she'd been dreaming, and the succession of raw emotion that passed through her usually so even features was heart-wrenching.

Yang never understood why those emotions surfaced in the order they did. The first thing was always relief, and that was the only one that made sense to her. Then there was always malaise and shame. Yang speculated that this might be because Blake felt bad for disturbing her, but she didn't cross out the possibility it was from her nightmare either. But then an awful mix of sorrow and revulsion would wash away her previous mortification. That one, Yang had yet to grasp, or even understand if she was understanding it properly. It always lasted no more than a breath, and at once Blake would start shutting down, closing herself off. It was almost invariably this same sequence of emotions.

Yang hated how her friend would just make herself swallow it down when it evidently needed to be purged.

Blake's gaze drifted to the wooden bed boards above her as she took a hold of herself. "I'm okay," she claimed, her voice unstable. She closed her eyes for a second before making herself look at her again. "Sorry. I keep disturbing you," she added strenuously.

"It's okay, it's not your fault," Yang tenderly answered. With her hand still on her cheek, she wiped the wetness from her eye.

"I still hate that I'm bothering you," Blake maintained. "They're just bad memories. Nothing you should be losing sleep over."

Though she said that, pain quickly overtook her features again like she was going to cry, like whatever she'd been reliving a minute ago had just resurfaced in her mind's eye, and Yang's throat was tied so tightly it hurt. Her hand on her friend's shoulder slid underneath her, inviting her to sit up, and Blake complied, letting herself be pulled into a hug. It was excessively rare that she'd accept comfort after a nightmare, but this time she completely crumbled in her arms, and Yang cradled her to her heart as lovingly as possible.

Holding Blake against herself after a nightmare was an entirely different experience than at any other time she'd hug her.

First because of how Blake clung to her like she never would otherwise, and the way _Blake_ would be the one crushing their bodies together only made Yang's dedication to her self-appointed mission of consoling her burn brighter.

Second… it was also different because of how her body felt in her arms. It was the middle of the night after all, and neither of them were wearing constricting, tight or shaping pieces of clothing. Their loose nightwear allowed for their bodies to… _fit_ together much better. Especially around the chest area; not wearing any bras let their bodies mould much better into each other. And maybe it was a little weird, but Yang _loved_ holding her when it felt like Blake fit this much better in her arms. It made her feel like they were even closer.

Leaning her chin on the head of black hair, she gathered her closer. The silky kimono was damp from cold sweats and the cat ear brushing against Yang's cheek quivered the same as Blake's exhalations did. They nevertheless felt incredibly warm as they hit the skin at the base of Yang's neck. Blake's hands on her lower back dug in her skin.

How distraught her partner was made Yang wish so desperately that she could somehow absorb her pain… which, she kept telling herself she _might_ have actually been able to do to some extent would Blake only opened up. If only. Yang nevertheless knew better than to ask her if she wanted to talk about it. The answer was no. It was always no. And would she dare ask, then Blake would close herself off completely. She would tear herself from her arms and retreat into her bed covers, her back to her.

So the blonde did the only thing she _could_ do; tightly hold her in silence until she felt the tension start to leave her friend's body. It was gradual, but very distinct. Whatever memory had put Blake on high alert receded from the foreground to leave the faunus almost limp in her arms. Only then did Yang loosen her embrace to tenderly rub up and down her back. Blake gently pushed her forehead into her neck in response, and Yang just wished she could keep holding her forever.

"Do you want me to stay with you tonight?" She heard herself murmur, despite knowing better. Blake always refused this offer too, but evidently, something deep within Yang still hung on to the hope that there might be a chance she'd say yes. She'd always tell herself that odds were better for her to accept this compared to her accepting to recount her nightmares. Blake might not want to let her in, but she gradually was accepting more support after all.

Blake's nevertheless answer was as expected. "I'm fine," she maintained, separating from her.

Yang immediately regretted asking. She'd _known_ the answer, and she'd known asking would prompt Blake to put up that wall again. But the fierce blonde wouldn't back down completely. "I want to stay at least until you're asleep again," she asserted without skipping a beat.

Her eyes darted to her disapprovingly, yet Blake didn't argue. It was the usual compromise. Yang wasn't to sleep with her, even though she knew Blake desperately needed the comfort, but Blake let her sit next to her for a while, even though she loathed to 'inconvenience' her. Of course, Yang kept telling her it was no trouble, even would she need her company for the night. Blake in return kept claiming she didn't need the company or comfort, she didn't even need for Yang to come down to start with.

Over time, they'd settled on Yang sitting by her until Blake had calmed down, and they never again had the argument after that. Neither got exactly what they wanted and they were both somewhat unsatisfied with that status quo, which probably meant it was a fair arrangement.

Nevertheless, Blake sat there, staring at her dejectedly. "One day you'll run out of patience," she mused.

What was that supposed to mean? Did she _really_ think Yang would eventually give up on her? Did she _seriously_ think there would come a time when Yang would pay no mind to how she suffered? That she'd listen to Blake cry at night without budging from her own bed? Like Yang would _ever_ leave a loved one to sink and drown in their torment?

"Never," Yang firmly shot back, "that day won't ever come."

Her partner didn't look convinced at all and Yang felt her jaw tighten. There was _no way_ that she would abandon her, just no way. It didn't matter how long it took for Blake to finally release the trauma she kept forcing herself to swallow down, one day, she wouldn't have the strength to silence that roaring monster, and Yang had every intention of being there when that happened. Her hand found her partner's cheek before gliding a bit further towards the back of her head, under the black hair. Her palm rested over Blake's jaw and under her ear, her fingers wrapped around the base of her neck. It got the golden orbs to find her gaze.

"I told you before that you underestimate how much I care about you," she started, plunging her eyes into hers. "I don't care how many more times I have to repeat myself, I don't care how many more times I'll need to get up in the middle of the night, or how many _years_ you'll stay silent," she asserted, holding her gaze as solemnly as she could. "I'll be there when you reach your limit. And I'll catch you."

For a second, Blake's features wavered, and the yearning in her eyes betrayed what words were on the tip of her tongue, even if she remained voiceless.

A fond smile nevertheless stretched Yang's lips. "I love you too," she murmured reassuringly.

The faunus awkwardly broke eye contact, her cat ears flattening down. Blake was never able to tell her, but Yang didn't mind. She knew how much of a hard time her friend had expressing affection in any form. Even when Yang had been drunk and crying, Blake hadn't been able to take her in her arms. Back then, it had been even a challenge for Blake to take her hand; she'd delicately touched Yang's as if to ask for permission, and she only stiffly let Yang take her in her arms.  
It had gotten much better though. Like when they'd broken the aura link on that second try, Blake ventured touching her arm, and that time she'd welcomed her warmly when Yang had gone in for a hug. Blake was getting more and more comfortable with both physical touch, but also with allowing herself to be more open with her feelings and keeping her walls down. This was how Yang knew there would come a day Blake would answer her when she told her she loved her. And she couldn't wait for that day, just the thought of it made her heart flutter.

Blake's fingers gently wrapped themselves around Yang's wrist, making her release the hold she had on her neck and head. She dejectedly shook her head, keeping her hand in hers. "You're too good to me."

Yang shrugged, still smiling. "Nah."

"You really are," she argued, her attention on the callused hand she held in hers.

If she was going to focus on her hand, the blonde decided she was entwining her fingers with hers. "You're worth it," she asserted.

Blake sucked in her lips, and her ears flattened even more. "...What if I'm not?" She tried, venturing to look back up at her to search her eyes timidly. Yang frowned, waiting for justifications to that claim, and Blake evidently realized this. She sighed deeply, one cat ear twitching. "You'd be disturbed if you knew what's inside of me," she offered. "It's repulsive."

Scooting closer, Yang brought her second hand over the one she held. "Hey... even if you did horrible things, the way you're tortured about them is proof you're not a bad person," she gently tried. The truth was, she didn't expect that Blake's nightmares were about her own past actions, but she needed to reassure her that _truly_ , no matter what, she'd still love her. "If that monster in your head is a past version of yourself, you're obviously not that anymore. My opinion of you wouldn't change, no matter what your past looks like."

Blake's disposition loosened up slightly, but it still took her a few seconds before she answered. "It's not me," she allowed. "I'm not the monster."

Yang nodded; it was as she thought. As she had ruminated over all the options, Yang had prepared herself to the possibility that Blake may have been dreaming about past horrors she'd committed. Yang prepared herself for the reality that her best friend might have once been someone she wouldn't be able to recognize, but... deep down, she'd always believed that what Blake was reliving in those nightmares were someone else's horrors. They either were horrors Blake had watched unfold, horrors she'd felt remorse for having allowed to happen... or horrors that were inflicted on her. But not her own.

She comfortingly caressed over Blake's knuckles with her thumb. "All the more reason not to worry about my opinion of you," she insisted, "nothing about your past would make me love you any less."

The faunus prudently kept watching her. "…And what about the present?"

Yang blinked quickly. "What about the present?" She quizzically repeated.

Blake let go of her hands. "If there's something about me _right now_ that's reprehensible," she questioned. "Something about the thoughts I have, about the way I… I'll feel. About the actions I'll sometimes pose," she suggested uneasily. "What if there's something about me _right now_ that I _know_ would change how you see me if you knew?"

Her eyes narrowed. "…This really a 'what if' situation, or…?"

Cat ears flattened again, and she was suddenly very interested in the hem of her kimono. "Not only what if."

"You think there's something about present you that's no good? That I wouldn't be okay with and that _would_ make me love you less?"

"…Yeah."

Yang's frown deepened. "Sorry, but I won't believe that," she flatly declared.

Blake still remained wistfully focused on the silk of her pajamas, unstirred by her buttheaded answer. Maybe she had expected it. But what other answer could Yang have given? Especially considering how she _truly_ believed that whatever Blake felt the need to hide, past or present, would never rebuff Yang.

"Blake," she started again, with a small sigh. "I _really_ can't think of even just one thing that'd change how I see you," she explained, and her friend finally glanced back up at her, remaining reticent and unconvinced, which made Yang elect to anticipate any would-be argumentation. "I get that you don't wanna tell me, I'm not asking you to tell me," she explained. "It's just that... I got to know you pretty well, didn't I? The Blake I know wouldn't be capable of anything genuinely bad. Maybe morally questionable stuff, yeah, but always with something good in mind. I _know_ you're good… and you're my best friend, Blake. It'd take an awful lot to change how I feel about you."

The way Blake slightly hung her head had her bangs obscure the golden of her eyes as she kept observing her. Moments like these, in which Blake was completely unreadable, reminded Yang of the first time she saw her. That air of mystery about her gave the brawler goosebumps, and it drew her in like she'd been put under a spell. Incidentally, it also made her want to obliterate her partner's walls even more.

Watching as, slowly, the faunus laid down on her back again, Yang understood she'd given up on the conversation and was set on trying to get back to sleep. With her jet-black curls spilled on her pillow framing her porcelain skin and flawless features, Blake looked like the embodiment of a living work of art. Her despondency, however, made for a heartrending portrait, and Yang yearned to take that hurt away. She _so_ wished to see her peaceful and happy and _well_. And for her to really feel loved. Because she was loved! Yang really, really, _really_ loved her, and surely it wasn't coming across because otherwise Blake would at least be a little comforted… right?

Yang didn't know how to communicate how much she loved her. She kept telling her, she kept explaining what she liked about her, she kept touching her and hugging her and inundating her with attentions. And she wished _so bad_ that Blake would embrace that warmth and care and let herself heal. She wished she could coddle her, and that Blake would relish in getting spoiled. She wanted to shower her with kisses and cradle her close to her chest and sleep with Blake nestled in her arms.

There was a time Yang used to do that with Ruby, so it wasn't weird, right? When they were kids, she'd kiss Ruby's head or temple a million times as they snuggled to sleep. She wanted to do that with Blake too. And Yang also wanted to kiss the tip of her fingers, and the inside of her palm and her wrist and cheeks and nose and eyelids and… well. The list just went on.

She just wanted to be very tender and loving and make her feel treasured and precious and important and worth the entire world.

Knowing that might be too much for Blake, but not knowing what else to do, Yang bent over her and pressed her lips to her head. Even through her hair, she felt the dampness from her scalp against her lips, a residue of her cold sweats. It might've rebuffed her had it been anyone else, but with Blake, it just heightened her awareness of how much of a bad time she must've had, and it incited Yang to continue her attentions. She gave her another kiss, this time on the temple, and then a third one on her cheek, lingering there. Again, the vague thought of how she'd almost kissed her a few days ago floated through her head, and the distinct impulse to do it passed through her.

It wasn't weird that she was thinking about actually doing it now, was it? There were some girls who were close friends who would do it sometimes weren't there? She leaned her forehead to hers, closing her eyes. Blake's breath warming her lips was a little erratic, like she was trying to control it, and Yang wondered if that was stress from her nightmare. She brought her hand to her cheek, leaning in closer so their noses touched. Blake stopped breathing. The tension in her jaw under Yang's fingers increased drastically and the blonde understood that her previously uneven breath was in fact from how anxious Yang was making her, getting all up in her space like that.

Of course.

Disheartened, the blonde straightened back up to sit normally. Blake's fretful gaze stayed on her like she was apprehensively waiting to see how she'd breach her space again. With her hand still on her cheek, Yang gently stroked her skin with her thumb, reminding herself that, though her friend was always very tolerant of her intrusive displays of affection, though her friend rarely ever told her to back off, Blake wasn't demonstrative like she was. Blake liked her own space, and it wasn't okay to keep making her uncomfortable. Yang took back her hand and her partner seemed to relax at once. Even her cat ears lost the high-strung tension that seemed to have taken hold of her entire body.

Something deep down inside of Yang wrenched itself. She hated seeing evidence of how Blake wasn't comfortable with how liberally she touched her. Because it reminded her that Blake really didn't feel the same need to be close to Yang, in fact, probably she'd prefer it would Yang not touch her as much as she did. And it made Yang feel incredibly needy to be stuck with this unreciprocated urge. It also made her worry about how she was going to deal when Blake would get a boyfriend. Because then… someone else would be using up her social batteries, her tolerance for touch. Was Yang going to need to learn to back off?

She didn't even want to think about it. The urge to grasp the opportunity to take anything she could from her before the chance slipped through her fingers insistently weighed on her, and she couldn't help her ensuing plea. "I'd really love it if you'd let me sleep with you tonight."

Blake clenched her bed covers around her. "I'm fine."

"Obviously not," the blonde argued.

"I've been worse, and I was alone then," said friend maintained. "I'll be fine."

Yang pursed her lips. She had half a mind to just lie down next to her anyways, but she dreaded that Blake may push her if she did. Not push her out of bed to fall on the floor or anything, Blake wouldn't do that, but… maybe she'd push her so she wouldn't touch her. Push her away, like how she'd physically pushed her away in that infirmary room. It was highly probably she would, especially since she hadn't stopped her when Yang had been half an inch from her face. There was only so much that Blake could take, and Yang was probably threading close to her limits already. That one time that Blake had rejected her touch had already hurt way too stupidly much; Yang didn't want to experience that again.

Without further argumentation, the blonde shifted to sit the way she always did, leaning her back to the headboard, one leg dangling down the bed. Her hand found her friend's head to gently scratch her scalp through her hair, and she gazed down over her as her hair being played with visibly relaxed Blake. She gradually unclenched her bedcovers, and her eyelids appeared to grow heavy. Her lips parted slightly too, making it look like she might start drooling. Her beatific expression was just absurdly adorable. It was everything Yang could do to hold herself back from jumping her for a squeeze. Instead, she willed herself to look away, closing her eyes and focusing on the feeling of her soft hair between her fingers.

After a long quiet moment, Yang almost fell asleep herself sitting there. It was some very faint rumbling that stirred her attention, it almost sounded like a ball rolling… or a cat purring? It stopped before she could identify what it was.

Blake's sleepy voice rose as if to steal her attention from it. "Yang?"

"Hmm?"

Very sluggishly, she turned on her side. Her forehead bumped to Yang's thigh, on the fabric of her shorts, and one cat ear twitched. "I know I'm not doing well at… hmm… being warm," she murmured, snuggling into her bed covers. "I mean… when you're being affectionate. How I get… awkward," she said with a little difficulty, obviously fighting sleep. Blake faintly pushed with her head against her thigh. "I just… I'm still getting used to it all."

The blonde felt herself smile slightly. "I know it doesn't come as easily to you, you don't have to explain," she gently answered. "We're all different, and it's okay if it's not your thing. Don't worry about it."

She gave a very faint shake of her head. "No, I worry," she mumbled. Blake brought her hand to drowsily rub her face. "Because when I… I freeze and stuff, it's just... I don't know how to go along with it, or what to do," she timidly explained, apparently forgetting about her hand in her face; it sort of limply slid off to lean against Yang's thigh. "It doesn't mean I don't like it."

Her eyebrows had gone up very high. "Oh." So Blake _wasn't_ tolerating all of it just to make her happy? Blake _liked_ it? "...Okay," Yang breathed, feeling her heart rate spike up. It was like her heart soared, like joy was bubbling over and threatened to overflow. She could barely contain herself. "Thanks for telling me."

A dim smile stretched her lips. "I wanted to tell you…" she mumbled. "Because I worry…that you'd misread it. And… and if it hurts your feelings... you might stop."

"I'm very happy you told me. I won't stop," the blonde answered, trying to tone done the elation that definitely still transpired from her voice. Maybe her heart was about to explode with bliss, she was so incredibly happy. "Sleep. And think happy thoughts so you have happy dreams, okay?"

Blake's fingers against her leg twitched and she rubbed her head against her thigh. "I'll try."

"Think about me," she suggested, grinning. "If you dream about me it's gonna be a good dream."

Her friend hummed in agreement. "The dreams I've had about you…" she trailed off, frowning in sleepy confusion. Blake then made a sluggish and really uncharacteristically high-pitched sound, like she was thinking very hard. It was really cute. "They were good dreams…" she agreed.

"You had dreams about me?"

She faintly nodded her head.

Yang probably shouldn't have been surprised about it; she herself had had a number of dreams about her teammates already, and more than a few about Blake specifically. Their earlier conversation came back to mind, the one about the dream she didn't remember at all, and that same profound sensation of closeness and… _intimacy_ surfaced. For a second, Yang awkwardly looked somewhere else, around the room, anywhere else, but she couldn't keep looking at her even though Blake was limply drifting off to sleep and completely unthreatening. She didn't know why this entire thing about that dream made her feel so self-conscious. She didn't even remember a sliver of it, so how could it discomfit her so much? "Do you remember any dreams you've had about me?"

"Hmm-hm…"

"You're not gonna tell me, are you?"

Blake made a vague dissenting sound.

Yang decided she would get on her case about that another time. "Good night, Blake," she murmured fondly.

There was no answer this time.

She smiled to herself, leaning her head back against the headboard as she closed her eyes, relishing in the crazy soft black locks she combed with her fingers, and the feeling of her Blake's head leaning heavily against her.

Blake was unquestionably asleep, but Yang didn't feel like going back to her own bed quite yet. She let her index line the side of a cat ear. The hair on it was so soft. She adored feeling Blake's forehead against her thigh. She couldn't truly pinpoint why she liked it this much, but her best guess was that it might've been that Blake's slow, sleeping breath as it warmed Yang's skin was soothing and so serene. Focusing on the moist warmth of it, her mind wandered back to that one time that Blake's face had been so close that both her nose and mouth had been resting against the side of her thigh. Yang had enjoyed that too. Probably because it made it feel like Blake's walls were going down, like she was tremendously at ease with her.

Yang played in her hair and around her cat ears for a long time, but when she realized she was again starting to drift off, she took a hold of herself and made herself stand up. With a quick glance back at her partner, she decided she needed to tuck her better under her covers. As she did so, while being over her, she also decided to give her another kiss on the cheek. Only then did she climb back up to her bed for whatever little sleep she could still get.

She'd set her alarm much earlier than usual because, having been somewhat tired the evening prior, she'd opted to skip showering and getting to bed early, figuring she'd do that in the morning instead. As Yang sat up in bed, she noticed the water was running. Glancing to her side to see both Ruby and Weiss were still in bed let her know who beat her to it. Yang hopped down from her bunk and went to knock on the bathroom door. "Blake?"

It was somewhat common that they'd come into the bathroom when one of their teammates was showering, but the last time Yang had done so, she'd walked in on Blake drying herself. "Blake, can I come in?"

Her voice was almost completely covered by the running water. "Yeah, it's fine."

Yang let herself in. The air was heavy and warm with steam, her partner's silhouette behind the shower curtain hard to discern. Yang stepped closer so she wouldn't need to raise her voice to talk to her. "Are you almost done? I need to shower too."

"I'll need another ten, at least," Blake answered, pausing for a second, like she was thinking it over. "You usually shower in the evening," she then noted.

"Yeah, I… was too tired," the blonde explained, leaning her hip against the counter. "I figured I'd get up earlier to do that in the morning, and I even put my alarm extra early to have time without hindering your or Ruby's routine."

"I see. It's a shame you ended up getting up this early only to have that time wasted."

"Yeah…" Yang puffed with a sigh. "Oh well, nothing to be done about that wasted time now."

"What about coming in with me?"

The proposition had Yang's jaw slacken with disbelief. Her heart rate skyrocketed and suddenly she could feel its pulse in her throat, in her fingers. She didn't know why she had such a strong reaction, but now thrill coursed under her skin and, though it was an eccentric suggestion, she found she absolutely was down for it. "Um, yeah, okay," she said.

A clattering sound resounded as Blake dropped something. "It was a joke, Yang," she rigidly said.

For some reason, she really felt jilted and frantically wanted to hold onto the opportunity "No, but I mean, that's not a bad idea," she immediately defended.

"It's a _terrible_ idea," Blake interjected.

"How? We'd save time and water," Yang argued.

"We wouldn't, it'd be too tight and encumbered to be efficient."

"I could wash your hair," she suggested.

"It's already washed."

"You could wash mine, then."

"You can wash it yourself when it's your turn to shower."

"Eh, I don't need to wash my hair today," she admitted.

Blake had no answer to this.

"Come on, let me shower with you," Yang pressed. "It would be fun!"

"What fun is there in showering together?"

"I don't know, it seems exciting," the blonde said.

"... _Exciting_ ," Blake repeated skeptically.

Which made her oddly self-conscious. "You're the one who brought it up!" She defended. "Come ooOooOoon!"

"No!" She shot back. "Wait for your turn!"

Yang pursed her lips, glaring non committedly at the shower curtain. "Are you going to hit me if I come in anyways?"

There was a long pause, like Blake was thinking over what reaction she might have. Her voice had an edge as she finally answered. "If you get your naked ass on this side of the curtain, I can't be held responsible for what happens."

The threatening ring of that warning made the hair on Yang's arms stand on end, but she didn't hate it. "That's so ominous."

"It's the truth."

Yang decided to sit on the counter. "You'd really hurt me?"

"I didn't say I'd hurt you," Blake answered.

"Oh, true." What _was_ she threatening her with then?

Like she didn't want to let her ruminate on that, the faunus addressed her again, moving the conversation along. "Why did you come in, Yang? To ask me if I'm almost done?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, you've done that."

"Yeah?"

"Well?" Blake pressed.

"Well, what?"

"You intend on staying here until I'm done?" She finally asked, underlining how odd it was that her partner was lingering in the bathroom instead of leaving her to shower in peace.

"I have nothing better to do," Yang pointed out. "I can't start getting ready until I've showered can I?"

"What if _I_ decided to hang out in the bathroom while _you_ were showering?"

For a second, Yang couldn't see how it would be a problem, but on second thought… because of the shared dorm room, shower time was the only time she ever had privacy, and so she'd take advantage of that time to relieve herself whenever she got hormonal. "That might be a bit inconvenient," she ended up admitting.

It was clearly not an answer Blake expected. "Inconvenient?" She repeated, puzzled.

"Yeah," she shrugged to herself. "I mean, I guess sometimes it'd be okay. But not all the time, you know?"

"Based on what?"

 _Based on whether or not I'm horny and need to masturbate_ , but it wasn't like she was going to answer that. "Are you almost done?" She asked, completely setting aside the conversation. "What are you even doing, usually your showers are short."

"They're short when I don't have to wash my hair," Blake defended, "and if you _must_ know, I'm shaving my legs."

"What? Really?"

"... Is that a surprise?"

"I thought you waxed," Yang admitted."And why have you even thought about this before?"

"I mean… I don't know," she said, trying to think back on when she'd first reasoned that this might've been the case. "With your huntress outfit showing your armpits and your pajamas showing so much leg, I ended up noticing your skin always looks super smooth and nice, there's like no hair ever."

"...Geez, how closely were you looking to notice that," Blake commented.

"It's not like I was looking closely, I just happened to notice," the blonde defended.

Though if Blake were to put her on the spot... Yang couldn't say she'd noticed any of that about Weiss or other friends. Which, Yang would argue wasn't quite the same because Blake was her partner and her best friend and they were always together, so it was normal she'd notice more stuff about her wasn't it?

"You just happened to notice?" Blake repeated sardonically. "And have you _not_ noticed my razor and shaving cream with the rest of my toiletries?"

"I thought maybe that was for uh… that more _sensitive_ area you might not want to wax?"

"... _Why_ have you thought about it in such depth?"

"It's not weird," the blonde declared. It wasn't weird to rationalize whatever she happened to notice, right?

" _I_ don't think about what _you_ do about _your_ body hair," she retorted.

"Not even now that we're talking about it?"

Silence. The sound of the water shut off. "Could you pass me my towel?"

Yang hopped up and grabbed the purple towel hanging between a white and an orange one, and then handed it behind the curtain, earning herself a quiet thanks. She was very tempted to steal a peek, she wouldn't mind getting another glance at that ass, but she decided Blake might get mad if she did. So like a good girl, she stood a few steps away, waiting for her to get out of the shower.

A cat ear appeared on the side of the curtain, and then half her head poked out. Blake frowned. "You're still there?"

"Yeah, I need to shower," she answered, as if it was the most obvious thing.

"But I need the bathroom. I need to dry myself and get dressed," her partner argued.

Yang still didn't see the problem. "Yeah, you can do that while I shower," she perplexedly pointed out.

"I need to get out so you can get in," Blake said.

"Well yeah," the blonde flatly said. "What's the problem? Come out."

"I'm not coming out," she stiffly retorted, retreating behind the curtain.

"What? Why?" Yang exclaimed. It wasn't like she hadn't seen her half-naked before. "What are you shy about?"

"Can't you just go back to the room for like _two minutes_ and give me some privacy?"

"Why are you making such a big deal out of it? You've got your towel," Yang argued, consciously deciding to overlook that she was somewhat making a big deal of it herself by not backing down. But there was no reason to be a prude either, was there? They'd likely find themselves in situations with much less privacy when they'd actually go out on missions. "Come on, I need to shower too. Just come out!"

Finally, the shower curtain was brusquely pulled open to reveal a very wet Blake bundled in her towel. She locked eyes with Yang and stepped up to her. "I'm out. Happy?"

Impossible to muster a sound. It was staggering how naturally beautiful she was. Of course, Yang saw her without makeup morning and night, but her face completely bare and exposed with her bangs pushed back into the mass of wet hair was a rare sight. Her skin looked so fresh, and she overpoweringly smelled of her flowery soap. The somewhat uncommitted glare with which Blake stared at her usually wouldn't discomfit Yang this much, but right then she had no voice. Her eyes followed water droplets that trickled from somewhere around her collarbone down to be soaked up the towel she held to her chest.

"How did you expect to proceed now?" Blake asked. "You'll undress in front of me?"

For some reason, electricity coursed under her skin and her heart rate rose. She wasn't as nonchalant as she thought she might be at the idea of being naked with her partner, and Yang's lips tightened. She huffed. "I can undress in the shower," she declared, tying her hair in a bun as she stepped in. "It's not like I'll be hit with cold water when I turn on the tap. It's still hot water in the pipes 'cause you were just in there."

With this she pulled the curtain closed and started removing her pajamas, which she then unceremoniously tossed over the curtain. Hearing a yelp, she understood she'd just flung them at her friend and laughed as she started the water. "Sorry, that wasn't on purpose!"

" _Sure_."

"I really didn't—" As she poked her head to the side of the curtain, she saw Blake rip the black and orange fabric off her face. "Oh, did I get your head?"

"You did," Blake deadpanned, "astounding skills you got there with that blind throw." She seemed… irritated. Which was understandable since she'd been hit in the head by dirty pajamas… but something looked off about her expression. Maybe it wasn't irritation? Yang couldn't tell what it was. There definitely was some unusual tension to her features, and her skin was quite red. But that redness was undoubtedly because of the hot shower. "Get back behind the curtain," Blake commanded, pulling Yang out of her daze. "I want to dry myself and get dressed."

The blonde retreated. She stood motionless under the hot water, listening to the sound of the heavy towel fabric shuffling around. Even with the water running, Yang could hear everything pretty well. Blake was clearly hurrying with it; did she not trust her not to peek? The sound changed, it was markedly lighter fabric now, letting her know Blake started getting dressed. The elastic band audibly slapped her skin as she hooked her bra. Steps were discernible as she moved around, and then, drawers and shuffling of items, until finally, the low hum of the hairdryer.

Yang realized she forgot to start washing herself, and not only that, she also felt heat pooling between her legs. It was especially annoying because she hadn't felt any need of the sort when she'd woken up, and she didn't know why she was suddenly turned on. Probably, she had conditioned herself by only ever doing it in the shower anymore. But now she couldn't do anything about it because Blake was just there on the other side of the curtain, and Yang deeply regretted telling her she didn't care about not being left alone to shower. She ran her fingers between her legs distractedly. Blake was _right there_. Yang shook her head, taking a hold of herself. Even if she was comfortable doing _that_ with her friend right there… Yang also tended to be unable to stay completely silent. It wasn't like she was especially loud, but someone in the same room would definitely hear, despite the running water. She had no choice but to suck it up, so she grabbed her body scrubber and bottle of liquid soap to start washing herself.

It however made it especially challenging to focus in class. Yang knew she couldn't afford not to listen because they were leaving the next day for a three day field mission and this was all very important, but… the warmth between her legs wasn't going away and it was driving her insane. She didn't know why she was so riled up. It stayed this way the entire day; her mind kept wandering to incredibly inappropriate things, to phantom sensations of being touched or kissed.

It had been a while since she'd last had sex, and she _really_ didn't miss the last person she'd been with, but she _did_ miss getting this sort of warmth from someone else. It was probably because it had been too long that she craved it this much, but it still bothered her a lot that she'd suddenly felt so horny and it wasn't leaving her alone. It was such that when she noticed that her last lesson of the day was one she didn't share with any of her teammates and that therefore none of them would question her absence, that she made an impulsive decision to skip. It felt somewhat embarrassing that she'd skip class to masturbate of all things, but… today had extenuating circumstances since she didn't know when she'd be able to relieve herself if she didn't do it then, and she absolutely didn't want _this_ to keep nagging and distracting her through that three day mission.

Once back to her dorm room, she threw her briefcase on her desk, rid herself of her somewhat constricting blazer and vest, before grabbing her scroll and climbing up to her bed. She plopped with her lower back on her pillow and head up against the headboard to be able to see the door. It opened straight onto the dorm hall and were any of her teammates to come back early or were she to not notice the time, it was riskier than she would've liked, but she was finicky about going to the bathroom to do this. Not only was she not good at standing up to do this and didn't really feel like sitting or lying on the bathroom floor, there were also less chances she'd hear if anyone were to come back… and she did _not_ want to be moaning in there without the sound of the showers running water to cover her voice. So she covered herself with her blanket and let her fingers wander her naked thighs and under her skirt to feel herself through her unsurprisingly damp underwear.

The lack of privacy in moments like this was _the one thing_ she really hated about dorm life.

It vaguely made her wonder how others got around with this, especially mixed teams. Guys did this more often, didn't they? Not that girls didn't regularly… her own teammates likely also—not that she wanted to think about it! She really didn't want to linger on her sister's habits! And anyways Weiss was probably too prissy to—well, that was unfair. Though not unfounded. Weiss came off as very proper.

...But Blake certainly had to do it sometimes too, didn't she? She certainly wasn't all that innocent because she _did_ own a couple of erotic novels. Blake perhaps didn't know she'd been found out, but hiding those books between the bedframe and mattress really wasn't as stealthy as she seemed to believe it was. Whenever Yang sat at her side at night, the additional weight on the mattress exposed the hidden books, and it was really easy to tell what they were from the titles. So yeah. Not innocent.

Which lead Yang to wonder…If she kept them around her bed, did this mean that Blake might do it while reading? Because— Nope, Yang slammed the brakes on her train of thought. She wasn't going there, nope.

She rubbed her fingers against herself a little stronger, trying to rein her attention back to the sensations. What did she usually fantasize about? How was her mind so completely blank? It was like she'd forgotten what usually got her off. Was it because she wasn't used to doing that in her dorm bed? Because she was stressed that someone would walk in on her? Trying to nudge her train of thought towards a fantasy, she recalled the feeling of a body against hers. Warmth and weight was a great starting point.

Although… the last time she'd had someone lying on top of her wasn't in any sort of intimate moment. It had been when she and Blake were practicing that move Ruby thought up. Being swung around from the other end of Gambol Shroud had her slam into Blake and they'd rolled on the ground about ten meters before coming to a full stop completely tangled together. She'd laughed heartily as Blake promptly tried to get off, only to find herself trapped and bound to her by the obsidian lashes she usually so expertly manipulated. Yang had happily made zero effort to help her partner detangle them.

The memory made her grin, only to remind her that she was distracted yet again.

Attempting to shake herself out of it and bring to the surface a more risqué and sexy fantasy, she imagined the feeling of restraints on her wrists, her arms forced above her head with her body on display. The thought of being made vulnerable and exposed always got to her, and she _wished_ she'd had the opportunity to experience this when she'd had someone to try it with. But none of her boyfriends had been assertive enough, and anyways… they wouldn't have been strong enough to tie her down securely. Unlike that one time she and Ruby were having a pillow fight which ended with Blake firmly tying them to each other because they knocked over her tea on that brand-new novel she'd gotten. Yang would probably have been able to break free by trashing against the restraints to tear them apart, but she'd also likely have strangled Ruby in the process, so that hadn't been an option. And no matter how they both wriggled and writhed, the knots just wouldn't give at all, so in the end, Weiss had to be the one to save them. Blake really knew what she was doing with those knots.

Yang groaned in dismay. Again thinking of Blake? It was frustrating that her mind wandered so constantly, she would've thought that given how she'd been horny the entire day, it wouldn't have been an issue getting off now that she had time!

On another hand, it probably shouldn't be surprising that her thoughts _would_ wander back to Blake given how most –if not _all_ — of Yang's recent life experiences included her in a way or another… and of how that remained true even with more private or intimate experiences.

For instance, Blake was the last person she'd seen naked. Granted, only her backside, but… what a stunning vision that'd been. Yang _hoped_ she looked half as good as Blake did from behind. Sure, all the students here were all in great shape given the nature of this vocational school, but Blake was just _blessed_. Everything was right; the tiny waist, womanly hips, a very shapely and tight ass, never-ending legs... Yang could only assume her front side looked just as good. As she realized she was attempting to imagine full-frontal nudity for her best friend, she promptly ousted the forming image.

That awkward blunder of walking in on her was only the tip of the iceberg too. The more she thought about it, the more ambiguously private incidents came to mind. Oh, it wasn't like she deplored any of it, it was simply that the sheer amount of occasions like these she could think of – how Blake was also the last person she laid in bed with, or the last person to touch her naked skin, or to kiss her fingers, and many other instances— it all justified why, through pattern repetition if nothing else, her thoughts might wander back to her even now. But indeed, Yang couldn't in any fair light deplore any of it because the majority of those episodes were her own doing; she was the one asking to grope her butt, or inciting her to flirt back, or there was even one time when Yang had straddled her, drunkenly deciding it was a great idea on her birthday.

Through the foggy haze that this night had been, she remembered that specific moment with surprisingly crisp clarity. Given her urgent enterprise to educate the other half of her team, she hadn't commented on any of the things she'd noticed as she climbed over her best friend, but she'd in truth been highly aware of them. Like the way she had to spread her legs more than with a guy because of the width of Blake's hips, and how spreading her legs this much was kinda hot. Another thing she'd noticed had been Blake's hands as she gripped her hips. They'd been much smaller and more delicate than what she'd experienced before, and it truly contrasted with how much firmer than any of her boyfriends her grip had been. With their style of partnering up for combat, Blake was used to decisively taking control of her movements, and it probably had been instinct as she'd done the same then, grounding Yang against herself. But Yang wasn't used to that. None of her past boyfriends had had enough self-assurance or assertiveness to take control of her, so the feeling of her body commanded this way… the memory of it would stir something hot in her groin. And it was somehow doing it now too.

She pushed the fabric of her underwear to the side to dip one finger in, trying to remember what it had felt like to have her hips gripped this way, trying to imagine how it would feel to have hands so assertively touching her everywhere else.

Although… this sort of touch wasn't the only sort that got her going. The way Blake had touched her thigh as they were laying in that infirmary bed had been staggeringly sensual. Now that she was thinking about it again, the phantom sensation of Blake's hand on her thigh came back to her with a shiver. It was mortifying to think of, but the way Blake had touched her that day… it'd stirred her body like she didn't even know it could be stirred without her consent. Yang hadn't been in the mood _at all_ , and still, the thrill as Blake closed onto her with that unreadable expression of hers, as Blake's fingers had approached the hem of her skirt, had roused Yang so much that she could feel heated blood engorge between her legs, loosening and warming her sex in anticipation of being penetrated. She had felt wetness start to soak her underwear. Her body had been _ready_ for it… when her friend was simply playing with her. How embarrassing.

Yang felt compelled to move her fingers a bit faster and she moaned quietly. It might've been embarrassing… but it was _still_ incredibly hot thinking back on it. With her left hand, she unbuttoned her blouse halfway down, reaching inside for her breast. Finally, she was starting to feel close.

Her train of thought hopped from one thing to another without her trying to stop it or analyze it anymore. She remembered weight on her and the warmth of another body against hers, or how Blake's hands had felt on her hips, or on the naked skin of Yang's back when her friend had massaged her. Blake was so light and her frame so delicate, and yet she was deceptively strong… the way she took control of Yang's movements, the way she firmly kneaded her flesh, it was electrifying. And yet the way Blake's incredibly soft fingers had threaded near the hem of her skirt in a feather like touch… that had been somehow _better_. Because it was surprisingly provocative, and impossibly thrilling and… being touched so intimately had sent a surge of heat through her, burning all the way to the tip of her fingers and toes to the tip of her nipples and most intensely in her groin. And then Yang was thinking of warm lips on her hand as Blake had kissed it a few weeks ago, or how soft those lips had felt against her _thigh_ as Yang sat by her after her nightmare sometime ago and the previous night… she thought of how her friend's slow breathing had warmed her thigh… Yang could almost feel what it would be like if it moved from the outside to the inside of her thigh… and higher up.

The click of the door had her jump out of her skin, her hand flew out of her underwear and she found herself on her feet. The next moment, her sister and her white haired partner were staring at her, standing on high alert between her bunk bed and dresser.

"Yang?" Ruby disconcertedly inquired. "Is something wrong?"

"No _,"_ she blurted. "No, no, I was uh, I was—I'm going out."

The pair looked at each other and then both her teammate's eyes ran over her, reminding her that she was halfway undressed.

"Yeah, I… was gonna… … … go to the gym," Yang explained as she waltzed over to her dresser to hurriedly fish out a change of clothes. She started getting changed, her back to them.

"You're not getting dinner with us?" Ruby curiously asked.

"I'm not hungry," Yang answered. _Not like that anyways_.

As she stuffed a clean towel with her bottle, shoes, and gloves in her bag, she thought to herself that, though she'd spouted that in a hurry to justify the undressed state she was in, the gym would at least allow her to work out some steam one way or another. And if her hormones were still driving her crazy once she was done, she would be able to fix that in the shower later tonight. Yang grabbed her scroll and headphones before hurriedly leaving. As she turned the corner to the staircase, she ran into her partner.

"There you are," Blake stated. "Are you okay?"

Was she looking for her? "I'm fine, why?"

"Ren asked me if you were feeling unwell because you skipped class."

 _Right_ , she'd forgotten Ren was also taking that course. He was just so quiet. "Oh. Uh… yeah," Yang awkwardly answered, racking her brain for an excuse. "I was…uh…" Somehow, she thought back on that time she had asked Blake what was wrong as her partner ate her honey and tea flavored ice cream, and Blake had lied about it being her period. Yang had pled for her not to lie to her again, to simply say she didn't want to talk about it. She didn't want to lie to her. Yang shook her head. "It doesn't matter. I'm fine."

Blake nodded, and her bow twitched. She also seemed to lean a tad closer. Had Yang not been enlightened some time ago that faunus had a better sense of smell, she probably wouldn't have noticed it… but it looked like her friend was humming the air. After a second, Blake seemed awash with some sort of understanding, and then she looked… troubled? Uneasy? Yang couldn't really tell.

"Did you skip to meet up with someone…?" Blake mumbled her question with a fretful edge to her voice.

Was that what she'd been smelling for? "No, I was alone," Yang honestly answered.

And now the faunus looked somewhat relieved, her face grew a bit redder. "I see."

"Do I have someone else's smell on me?" She straightforwardly asked.

Blake's eyes shot wide open, like she'd just been caught red-handed. "No," she blurted. "No, that's not it." Clearly, she hadn't expected her to notice, and it made the blonde wonder how many times she might've missed her partner doing things like this.

Yang cocked her head. "What were you sniffing for then?"

"…Just…" she trailed off, suddenly very interested in their shoes. Her face was getting redder. "I was just trying to put my finger on something that I don't usually smell on you," she explained with apparent difficulty.

"And you put your finger on it?"

"Yeah," Blake allowed in a low mumble.

She was curious what it was that her friend had picked up. "You thought that smell was someone else?"

"No, but I… thought it might be from… being with someone else – I… I don't know. Sorry, forget it," the dark-haired faunus quickly dismissed, glancing her up and down. "You're headed to the gym?"

"Uh. Yeah."

"What about dinner?"

Yang shrugged, clutching her bag a little closer to herself. "I'll skip, I'm not hungry."

Blake frowned. "Tomorrow's not just a regular school day, we're going out on the field, remember? You need to be rested and ready."

"I won't overdo it, don't worry. I'll be fine," she answered, unable to repress the small smile that stretched her lips. She liked when her partner fussed over her.

Said partner wasn't convinced. "When you don't eat enough, you get hungry at night and that _always_ wakes you up," she pointed out. "You need to eat."

 _True_ , she hadn't thought of that. Blake really knew her well didn't she? Nonetheless, the blonde was still bothered by this restlessness of having not been able to relieve herself. "But… I _really_ need to work some steam off," she insisted in a bit of a whiny tone.

"It's not that late, you'll still have time to work out after you've digested," Blake maintained. "Come on," she then said, taking her hand.

The shock that coursed through Yang when she felt delicate fingers entwined with hers made her skin tingle all over. Blake rarely was the one to reach out and touch her, and Blake's skin was so stupidly soft and… Yang was still very aroused, which made her so much more sensitive to touch.

… Which reminded her, she hadn't washed her hands, and the hand Blake held in hers…

Mortification didn't begin to cover it. Usually she didn't have to worry about washing up because she did it in the shower! This was the _one time_ since living in a dorm that her fingers were dirty from- _Why_ out of _any_ time Blake could've chosen to hold her hand did she do it _now_?! And why _that_ hand?! Why couldn't Yang have remembered to wash them before running out?!

Yang was terribly loathe to make Blake let go because she knew her friend would misinterpret it, and she so, _so_ didn't want Blake to be discouraged to ever take her hand again…! But it was still so incredibly embarrassing and she felt awful. She was too taken with her internal struggle to do anything about it, and halfway through to the cafeteria, she ultimately decided it was too late to do anything about it. Blake had taken her dirty hand and it wouldn't change anything to release her hand now or in a few minutes. Once they'd gotten there, Yang excused herself to the washroom, taking a second to get a hold of herself and wash her damn hands before getting food.

Uncharacteristically, she didn't chat much as they ate together with other friends. What had just happened bothered her. She kept thinking that if only Blake knew what she'd just unwillingly been subjected to, she'd probably wash herself with bleach and give Yang the silent treatment for at least a week. But what should Yang have done? It wasn't like she could just make her release her hand, could she? Not when the faunus so rarely reached for it. And even if Yang would've been okay lying to her –which she _wasn't_ — what excuse could she have given her to release her hand? It wasn't like she could just tell the truth; _'Sorry Blake, I didn't wash my hands after masturbating to—_ ' that thought came to a screeching halt.

Now that the brain fog was gone and she could think about it clearly… had she been about to make herself cum while thinking of…?

Her gaze slid to the dark-haired faunus, and at once shame washed down Yang's back with uncomfortable heat.

Sure, her mind had been restless, and it wouldn't have been the first time that her thoughts would've strayed away from fantasies towards utterly unrelated things of day-to-day life when she masturbated. She would regularly find herself thinking of insignificant things like homework, or remembering she needed to buy shampoo, or do laundry, or a number of other things of the sort, so her mind straying definitely wasn't a first, but _this_ … this was still unacceptable. And yes, she knew that a large number of people had that experience once in a while where they'd be ashamed of what they'd found themselves masturbating to, but… she couldn't make her peace with it. She'd taken her scroll to her bed with her too! She should've just looked up some porn instead of allowing her mind to go gallivanting so.

Yang didn't finish her meal. Blake looked somewhat concerned, but she didn't say anything as her partner disposed of her tray and left. The brawler needed to air out her brain, and she ended up straying to their weapon lockers. Thinking of their outing, she decided she might as well thoroughly clean Ember Celica, it'd serve well to distract her until she was able to go to the gym.

Once she could finally make it there, she didn't hold back on pushing herself at all. Yang relayed to the back of her mind how she'd told her partner she wouldn't overdo it. Blasting her music and expanding her pent up frustration helped tremendously with tampering what plagued her.

As her workout neared its end, she heard her name called even through the loud music in her headphones; she pumped out a last rep and racked the bar above her head. The voice had been muffled by the music and as Yang sat up, removing her earbuds, she scanned the gym for who might've called out to her. It was a surprise to see the blond monkey faunus waving enthusiastically as he made his way to her.

"Oh, hey, Sun!"

He gave an impressed whistle. "Damn, Xiao Long, how much is that?" Sun asked, already counting the weight on the bar. "Three-fifteen, three-sixty-five… three-eighty-five? Geez, how many reps?"

"I'm doing five by five," she unconcernedly answered.

He, on the other hand, didn't look unconcerned at all. "... Should I ask what your max is?"

"You don't wanna know," Yang grinned. "I've yet to try maxing out using my semblance."

"You mean, you've yet to try it in _beast mode_?"

"You can call it that I guess," she laughed.

The blond faunus gave a swift glance around. "So… you alone?"

Yang raised her eyebrows in amusement. "If you're looking for Blake, she's not here."

"I'm not—" he started on a bit of a defensive tone. "Okay," he acknowledged. "I saw you just now and thought maybe she might be here too. But I wasn't looking for her to start with, I legit came down here for a workout."

"Alone?"

"At this time? Oh yeah. Neptune needs his beauty sleep," Sun laughed. "He gets fussy about bags under his eyes, says it ruins the freshness of his cool look."

She rolled her eyes. "Somehow I'm not surprised."

"Mind if I work in between your sets?" he pointed at the bench.

"Sure, why not." With this, she started circling around to stand behind the bench but stopped in her track. "Do you need to change the weights?"

"Uh, _yeah_ , I need to warm up. And I can't bench _that_ for reps either," he admitted, removing some weight on one side while Yang mirrored his arrangement on the other side. "So," he started again, dropping himself on the bench. "...Where _is_ Blake? She sleeps early?"

"Nah. She's likely reading. She tends to sleep at odd hours," she explained, watching as he quickly did his warmup. "Her sleep schedule is a mess," she then added, and saw his eyes dart to her. Yang decided not to broach how much sleep Blake lost over nightmares and general anxiety, and she offered instead a half-truth. "She'll like… read until really late and then won't get much sleep and nap the next day. And then she won't be tired in the evening so she'll read until really late. Repeat."

He laughed, standing again. "Sounds like her!"

She smiled in return. "She told me not to let her nap, but…" Yang trailed off, the image of her friend curled up and dozing off surfaced in her mind with an overloading surge of affection for her. "Blake's _so cute_ when she sleeps, Sun, I can't wake her up!" She exclaimed. "Wait," she said as she pulled out her scroll.

As she browsed through her camera roll, she realized that finding the picture she remembered taking of Blake sleeping might be more challenging than she'd thought; most of the pictures she'd taken in the last months were of Blake, and it wasn't until now that she'd realized the sheer amount she had taken. Trying to find the specific one she wanted was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

The first time she felt the urge to snap a candid shot of her best friend was shortly after they'd become partners. They weren't best friends yet then, and Yang was still not accustomed to just how gorgeous the woman she called her partner was. One afternoon as she'd attempted to find Blake in the library, she'd stumbled upon her lounging about in the sun next to a window, completely engrossed in her reading. The way the sunlight illuminated her made her seem like a vision from a dream; the gloss in her jet black hair accentuated how soft the loose curls looked, and the golden of her eyes as they coursed on the pages of her novel had an almost surreal shine. Even her white uniform blouse looked to be glowing with the sunlight. Holding her breath, Yang had snapped a picture before she'd even realized what she'd been doing. She'd then debated whether or not she should let her know, somewhat afraid that Blake would demand for it to be deleted, but Yang had ultimately decided it was best if she _did_ tell her. It was more courteous to obtain her permission, even if only retroactively. Thankfully, Blake had just shrugged it off, and even consented to spontaneous pictures here and there, as long as they weren't intrusive and as long as Yang kept them to herself.

What had started with a picture or so every week had somehow turned into a dozen or two a week, and she wasn't quite sure Blake would be as nonchalant about them would she know about the ridiculous number the brawler had accumulated. But it wasn't like it was Yang's fault that her partner was a walking and breathing work of art, was it? And anyways, everyone takes a million pictures of their cat, don't they?

"I can't find it," Yang waved off, abandoning the idea of showing him. It wasn't like she especially wanted to show him either, even if he did look disappointed. She decided to change subjects. "Say, I never asked, how did your junior detective mission end up going?"

"Went pretty smooth up until _someone_ had a train bust through the city with Grimm on their tail," he playfully answered.

"That wasn't our fault," Yang pointed out. "We tried to stop it."

The faunus boy just smiled wider. "Hopefully the next assignment we all get is also an easy one."

"Oh, yeah, speaking of which! Prof. Goodwitch will be sending us as pairs out for a three-day exercise starting tomorrow. Do you know if you guys from Haven will be doing it too?"

"Naw, it's only you guys. We're told this'll need some knowledge of Vale territory 'cause you won't be chaperoned by any Huntsman or Huntresses to help navigate. So students from other kingdoms just can't realistically do it and stay safe."

"Huh," Yang flatly mouthed. It was the first time she heard about that part. "No Huntsman with us? Are you sure? Where did you hear that?"

Sun shrugged. "I don't know, people are talking."

She was a bit stumped. First years _always_ had a huntsman or some sort of supervision when they went out on a mission; even when they'd been in the Emerald Forest for their initiation, they'd had remote surveillance and were unknowingly filmed. But as Yang thought back over the last week's classes, it became apparent to her that the teachers had been preparing them for being alone. They had been reviewing survival skills and such, and safety at all costs had been drilled into the students' heads. She also remembered that a number of teachers has mentioned something along the lines that the capacity to improvise was key for being a successful huntsman. Would students be told that they would be without a Huntsman and be left to their own devices, some of them -cough- _Weiss_ -cough- would go out of their way to prepare.

Yang crossed her arms contemplatively. "So just Blake and I, huh." Given school life and a shared room with Ruby and Weiss, she'd never been completely alone with Blake for more than a few hours. That was bound to be an interesting trip.

"It'll be boring without you guys around," Sun bemoaned.

"I'm sure you'll survive seventy-two hours without us," she laughed. "Besides, it's not like we'll be away to have fun."

"I would be having fun if I was going on a three-day trip with Blake no matter what we were doing," he indicated.

"Not everyone can be as lucky as this girl," she grinned, pointing at herself with both thumbs.

With her motion, she saw his gaze linger on her arms, and that seemed to give him an idea. "We should send Blake a gym selfie!"

"You mean like, flexing and all?"

"Yeah!"

Yang laughed. "Sure."

He promptly came up to her as he pulled out his scroll. Yang didn't really fuss about looking good, she just quickly posed as he snapped a pic and then she laid on her back to do her set.

"Oh, she already opened it, she was still awake," Sun noted. "…She screenshot it."

Yang huffed. "I told her those aren't meant to be kept," she muttered a bit unhappily. It wasn't that it _truly_ bothered her, but she'd still rather that her friend didn't screenshot those unflattering pictures. In this instance, Yang was sweaty from having worked out, but Blake had previously saved equally unsavory pictures, like Yang's disheveled morning hair snaps, or silly pics with facemasks, food up her nose, and things of the sort. "Blake always screenshots the dumbest stuff," she then added.

Looking utterly baffled, Sun slowly turned her way. "It's the _first time_ she screenshots _anything_ I sent her."

Yang frowned. "Really? Do you send her food or stuff like that? She won't screenshot those."

"No, most of the time it's my face," he pouted. "Or my abs, I sent her that too."

"…What do you expect," she flatly countered.

"Hey! Girls like it!" He defended. "And my boys will compliment me!"

"Girls? With an _s_?" Yang confirmed, and then the rest of his argument registered. "Wait, you also send that to your team…?"

"Yeah," he candidly admitted. "I just send it to everyone or make it my story."

" _Why_?"

"Because I feel good about them?" He tried, a little perplexed at being questioned over this. "I don't know."

"I feel good about my body and I don't send pictures of it to my team, much less my entire contact list," Yang indicated.

Sun still didn't look remotely self-conscious. "My boys are supportive, we'll compliment each other because some body-positivity is nice," he explained. "They also send me stuff like that and I'll say nice stuff about them. Being supportive is important."

Yang stared at him for a second. Well. Guys really didn't get as complimented as girls did in day to day life, so maybe it was actually somewhat wholesome that they'd bolster each other up. Still, she couldn't really envision how that would go over with her own team. If she sent anything their way looking for compliments, she'd likely get question marks as an answer. But if she _really_ overdid it, maybe… the potential hilarity of the response she'd get prompted her to pull out her scroll too.

Turning her back to Sun, she then grabbed the front of her sports bra and pulled enough to reveal an indecent amount of cleavage to take a picture. Her face was framed out except for a playful, sticking-her-tongue-out grin and it was admittedly quite saucy, but she still didn't hesitate before sending it to her three teammates. "I sent my team a pretty sexy pic. Let's see if I get some body-positivity like you do," she said with a laugh, staring down at her screen as, already, one of the 'sent' notifications turned to 'read'. "Blake opened it," Yang declared.

Sun scooted over to her and they both stared at the screen awaiting an answer, only to watch as the replay symbol popped up.

"She replayed it," Yang stated, though he'd obviously also seen the notification. She glanced at him. "Maybe she didn't see what I sent the first time around?"

"…Hmm," Sun gave, apparently unconvinced. "Still no answer?"

"She's typing," Yang said. "It went away." Pause. "She's typing again," she narrated, even though he was still looking over her shoulder. The message went away for the second time. The next moment, Blake's face appeared on her screen as a call came in.

Yang glanced at Sun, he shrugged. She then put her scroll to her ear. "…Uh… Yeah?"

Blake didn't speak right away. "Was that a mistake?"

"You mean the snap?"

"Yes."

Did it look like a mistake? Maybe Blake thought she'd taken it for herself and didn't mean to send it to anyone? "No, I did mean to send that to you."

"What for?"

"Did I need a reason?" Yang cluelessly asked.

"I don't get it."

"What is there to get, it was my boobs."

"I saw," Blake stiffly retorted.

"Yeah, _twice_ ," she snorted.

"I just—You— … Yang?!"

"Geez, what are you so worked up about," she disconcertedly commented.

"Because you—I mean. _Why_?"

Not having a why to offer in response, Yang simply set the answering aside. "Wasn't it a good picture though?"

This seemed to stump her, and Blake stayed silent for a few seconds. When her voice came again, it was a little strained. "…Who was it originally taken for?"

"What do you mean?"

"You sent it to me because you thought it was a good picture?"

"Yeah?"

"Okay. So you took it, and only then decided you should show it to me too, right? Because you thought it was a good picture," Blake explained her train of thought. "But you still took it in the first place. So, who was it for?"

"…There's no guy I wanted to show my boobs to, if that's what you're asking, Blake," she said. "I actually took it specifically to send it to all of you."

It only seemed to confuse her even more. "…Who, all of us?"

"I sent it to Ruby and Weiss too."

"… … Yang _why_?"

"You're making this very complicated, Blake."

"You sent three girls, one of them your sister, your cleavage. On purpose," she reminded her.

"It was Sun's idea."

"Don't listen to him!"

Yang laughed. "I can't explain how it went, but it made sense when I decided to do it," she defended.

"No matter how we look at it, it doesn't make sense," she still argued.

"Yes it does…! What about a bit of solidarity and like, team spirit? What about some body-positivity?" Yang lamented.

"Body positivity?" Blake repeated incredulously. "And your _cleavage_ is what you figured we should compliment?"

"You don't want to?"

"Hard pass."

"If _you_ sent _me_ a sexy picture, I'd totally gush," Yang declared, to which she saw Sun start to have a meltdown.

There was a short silence. "...Why would I send you something like that?"

"I'm just saying! _If_ you did, then I'd readily gush. I'd make you feel legendary," Yang keenly explained. "You'd feel awesome about yourself. So don't be shy."

"...Don't be shy?" Blake apprehensively repeated.

"Yeah! Don't be shy!"

"... Are you... _asking_ me for one?"

The question stumped her, and Yang found herself at a loss because she realized… she _wanted_ one. Of course it was just curiosity over what sort of picture Blake might take. Also, Blake was just so ridiculously gorgeous, it was only normal to want to see what a racy picture of her would look like, right? Yang stared out into the gym, not really focused on anything, but she noticed Sun looked like he was about to die. He was only listening to her side of the conversation, but he still followed well enough to understand where they'd ended up and it looked like he was having some sort of crisis. Maybe she wanted one just to gloat until the end of time. She'd never show him of course, but Yang decided that tormenting him was unquestionably why she wanted one. "If I was, would you send it?"

It was another moment of silence as Blake weighed her answer. "I wouldn't know how to take one," she ultimately said.

The blonde was reminded of how her partner had told her she didn't know how to flirt, only to make her knees weak a few seconds after. Not only that… Blake had even managed to— Yang stopped herself. She didn't want to remind herself of how she'd felt then or how… she'd used that very feeling to try getting herself off earlier. As she ousted those thoughts, Blake's answer just now hit her again. Had she been implying she would've considered taking one? Yang found her heart was beating much, much faster. "I'm sure you'd look stunning no matter what."

Blake sounded reticent and maybe even just a little coy. "Don't you have enough pictures of me already?"

"What, no, never! I never have enough!" Yang exclaimed. "And I don't have one like _that_!"

"What's your point?"

"I'm missing that for my collection."

"How's that a good reason?"

Instead of attempting to muster an explanation, she decided to switch tactics. "I sent you one."

"I didn't ask for it," Blake retorted. "And I don't even have it anymore, it's gone."

"So? You saw it. Twice."

"What do you mean, _so_?" She balked. "Having one saved on your phone, isn't the same as being shown one for four seconds!"

"What if I sent you another one that you'd get to keep? _Then_ would you send me one?"

It gave her pause again. There was some shuffling over the phone, like Blake was moving around. "You'd take another one?" She finally asked.

"Yeah? I'll even make it properly sexy too, since I wouldn't send it to Ruby," she offered, telling herself that she was only offering this as a further incentive to make Blake feel less anxious about sending her anything.

The silence at the other end of the line indicated pretty clearly that she was thinking about it. "...How sexy?"

"I don't know… I figure I could do underwear?"

"You'd pose?"

" _Yeah_ ," Yang enthusiastically answered, sensing that her friend might be considering it, "like proper lingerie model pose even!"

"And you wouldn't mind that I'd have a picture of you like that?" Blake still sounded apprehensive.

"If there's anyone in all of Remnant that I wouldn't mind having a picture of me like that, it's you," she laughed.

"Maybe you _should_ mind," she cautioned.

"Nah."

Blake stayed quiet.

Puzzled by her lack of answer, Yang scratched her head. "There's no reason for me to mind," she insisted

The faunus sighed nervously. "What if there is?"

"Like what?" Yang pressed. "I trust you, I know you wouldn't spread it or show it to anyone."

"Of course not," she scoffed.

"So then what?"

Blake had no answer again.

Yang didn't really know if Blake actually didn't have any argument or if she didn't want to voice what answer she'd thought of. Either way, this meant Yang had won because she had the last word. "See? It's all good," she exclaimed. "It's all worked out!"

"It's not!"

"What else do you need for me to convince you?"

"Why are you even trying this hard to convince me?"

"Because you were letting yourself get convinced?" The brawler laughed.

"I wasn't!" Blake claimed. "Good night, Yang."

The line cut before she could answer. Yang had the feeling she'd been on the brink of convincing her, and that it might be that Blake was still considering it now. She wondered if Blake might have been tempted because she had told her she'd make her feel good about herself. Yang _did_ compliment her a ton, but it wasn't quite the same to do so offhandedly versus an instance when Blake might actively try to be sexy. Even the most beautiful people out there could be insecure or very self-critical, and even they might need some genuine compliments, so maybe if Blake was tempted to send one, it was on the grounds of something like that?

"...Is she gonna send you one?" Sun interrupted her thoughts.

"If she ever did, I wouldn't show you," Yang retorted.

"I wouldn't expect you to," he defended. "But I'd be dying inside knowing that _it exists_ ," he admitted.

Yang rolled her eyes, reloading the bar for her set. She dropped herself on the bench and Sun stood by, watching her pump out her reps. She then stood again, and he helped her deload the bar.

He laid on his back, did his set and, as he sat up, he turned to her again. "...Are _you_ gonna send _her_ one anyways?"

She frowned. What was up with the questioning? "Why are you asking?"

"Just. You know. Curious."

Yang shrugged, getting ready to do her set.

If she was to be completely honest, she was tempted to. It was likely just curiosity, first to see if Blake would cave in and decide to send one back, and secondly... she wondered… on a picture showcasing Yang's entire body, what exactly would Blake linger on? Blake had refused to say anything about that cleavage pic Yang had sent her, but the blonde already knew that was an area that her friend had hang-ups about. It itched at her to know what else Blake might look at. What part of Yang's body she'd comment on, what else other than her chest might draw Blake's attention. And if she was curious about that, Yang told herself that it was only because since Blake's body was downright _perfect_ , then if there were any parts of _Yang's_ body she might compliment, then…Yang should be really pleased with these areas of her body, right? And she might want to emphasize those when she dressed. What other reason would there be for her to want to know what part of her body Blake's gaze might linger on?

"Do girls usually do that?" Sun interrupted her pondering again. "Between friends?"

"What _'that'_?"

He looked reluctant to voice it. "...Like, trade sexy pictures," he awkwardly said.

The way he asked that made her feel self-conscious. "What are you asking exactly?" She might've sounded a bit defensive with that one.

"Uh, nothing."

Yang squinted her eyes at him, but chose not to push it. As she prepared to do her last set, her scroll buzzed with a notification. Yang felt her heart rate shoot up. What if Blake had caved in? For a second, she couldn't bring herself to look at her screen, but then she couldn't _not_ check it.

Weiss: I hate you.

"Oh no, she blocked me."

 **end**

 **Yang's snap that Blake couldn't help but replay: /y8ay8a/status/1198080913571229696?s=20**

* * *

 **Epilogue**

Blake had woken up with her partner still wrapped around her.

Yang's head rested heavily against the back of her shoulder and her arms were still around her. Part of her was a little surprised that she hadn't let go of her during the night, but then again… Yang _had_ wanted to hold her to sleep for months now. Yang would unfailingly try to convince her every single time she'd come down from her bunk when Blake had nightmares. The faunus would've thought that, after having been shot down three or four or a dozen times, her friend would have gotten tired of asking... but Yang _always_ asked her if she could sleep together with her. So really, Blake shouldn't have been surprised that her strong arms were still clutching her even now that the day had dawned.

Blake glanced at the clock; it was still hours before they'd need to check out of the inn, and given how hard Yang had worked the previous day, the faunus opted to let her sleep her fill. Not to mention… it was hard to willingly put an end to this moment. Yang's body snuggled up against her back was the best thing she could hope to wake-up to. Its shape and warmth was just divine, and the way Yang held her always made her feel so welcomed and loved. Feeling the need to return some of that love, Blake snuggled the arm she held against her chest, thinking to herself that maybe from then on, she _should_ let Yang sleep in her bed with her after a nightmare. Enveloped in her doting embrace, she'd slept better than she had in a long time, but still, after remaining motionless for a while, the gentle warmth and utterly blissful sensation of being in her arms was lulling her back to sleep. She had started to drift off again when she sorta felt her move.

Yang was waking up, was she? Something deep inside of Blake protested. She really didn't want to have to separate and get out of bed. Now in a drowsy half-sleep, Blake justified choosing to snooze longer with telling herself that since she'd waited for Yang to wake up, Yang could wait for her in turn too. It might be possible that her partner would fall right back to sleep if Blake pretended she'd never woken up anyways.

The body behind her fidgeted slightly, preventing her from truly drifting off. Yang moved her head and leaned it again to her shoulder and back once or twice. She also rubbed her forehead on the back of Blake's head, in her hair. She shifted her legs to throw the covers off her feet. Blake had noticed before how her space heater friend would often sleep with her arms and feet sticking out from the bedcovers. Yang then hugged her closer, and as the arm she held tightened around her, Blake realized that the way she was holding onto her limb had Yang's hand on the underside of her breast.

Yang must've felt it too, because she seemed to stiffen. She was so completely immobile for such a long time that Blake wondered if she'd gone back to sleep. She also was starting to think that she might get some more sleep herself, when she felt a curious movement of her hand.

It was subtle, so much so that the faunus couldn't tell whether or not it was simply a spasm, but the second time was unambiguous; it wasn't a spasm. Yang's fingers pushed into her breast, slowly curling around the flesh.

Blake promptly decided her partner's hand was probably just numb from her having slept on her arm, and Yang, having lost all feeling in her fingers, probably just needed to move her hand a bit. Yang likely didn't even realize what she was doing since she couldn't feel her hand, right?

Blake tried to tell herself it was just that, but then it happened again, and this time her touch felt like a caress. And then very carefully, Yang moved her second hand from around Blake's waist, up her body, to take hold of her other breast.

Okay. So, Yang _was_ feeling her up.

And in retrospect, maybe this shouldn't have been a surprise either.

After all, Yang had admitted to some curiosity towards how different other women's bodies might be, what with confessing to checking others out in the locker room. Moreover, it _certainly_ wasn't the first time Yang showed curiosity towards Blake's body either.

So, what? Was this simply part two of the butt-groping episode? Which meant Yang would have her fill and be satisfied in a minute or so?

Trying to still her breathing and make it look like she was still asleep, Blake decided she'd let her satisfy her curiosity.

As she motionlessly laid there focused on the light touch on her chest, she thought back on that dusk-lit infirmary room. Yang had been undressing her, and though Blake had taunted her, she hadn't dared unbutton her uniform shirt as far as she'd threatened to.

What had Yang said again?

Oh, yeah. _Next time, I'm having my way with you._

It seemed _that_ hadn't been an empty warning.

...Not that Blake had cared whether or not it was when she'd promptly waived her own privacy and graced Yang with her blessings to do just that.

It wasn't like she ever thought that a similar situation would arise again for there to be a 'next time' _or_ that Yang would follow through on that next time. Blake hadn't even given a thought to what Yang might mean when she said that.

What _had_ she meant when she said that…? Because it certainly couldn't mean what it sounded like it meant. Blake wondered if Yang herself had had any idea of what her own threat would entail would she need to follow through with it.

Either way, it at least meant what was happening right now, _that_ was for sure. So if it meant at least that, then did this mean that Yang had wanted to feel her body then too? -stupid question; Yang had gone a number of lengths to obtain permission to grope her ass, so _obviously_ she did.

Blake felt her touch grow more assertive, as Yang seemed to get more comfortable with what she was doing; it didn't seem like she was going to be done anytime soon.

Blake wondered what she'd do if she showed that she was awake. Would her friend just shrug it all off?

While it lasted, Blake decided she would engrave everything about that moment in her head; the size of Yang's hands, the way she touched her, the feeling of her body against her back, the scent of her hair enveloping her… everything. Yes, she knew it wasn't good for her, she absolutely _knew_ that she was only hurting herself with allowing instances like these to satisfy her own need for touch and closeness, and it all nourished her pointless infatuation with the other woman, but it was beyond her power to not sink into these moments when they arose. It was beyond her power to prevent herself from relishing in them and always fantasizing of more.

So she closed her eyes a little tighter, exhaling almost meditatively, hyper aware of the way her fingers lined the crease where the mass of her breasts met her ribcage, or how Yang carefully knead the underside of them with her palms. It was only as Yang moved higher, for a proper feel of their full shape, that Blake's heart jumped in her throat. The exploring hands had come across her nipples, and it was only a slight brush through the fabric, but they were _clearly_ erect. Or at least, Yang evidently felt that they were, because she paused at the contact.

Blake knew this had betrayed her arousal. She knew the game was up, that Yang would know, that Yang would stop. And what if she _asked_? Blake's body reacting to being touched was normal but… what if she asked anyways? Blake's ugly truth might be exposed.

Against all expectations, not only did the caresses resume, but Yang went _right_ for the tip of her breasts. She took extra care to examine the protruding outline through her clothing before taking hold of her breasts again, stroking the tips with her thumbs. Blake's body flushed with heat, yet, taken with incredulity and blank shock for a second, it was like her entire world came crashing down. Through the fabric, Yang carefully goaded her nipples to thoroughly harden, and Blake felt her exhale hotly against her shoulder. She also felt the blonde bombshell's staggeringly alluring body pushed to her back in an evident need to be closer, which drew Blake's awareness to another number of things; the heat suddenly exuding from her partner, or the way she breathed in her hair, or… the musky scent that had mingled with Yang's habitual one. It was the same one she'd smelled just the day before, the one that had lingered on her own hand after she'd taken Yang's hand in hers to lead her to the cafeteria.

Arousal.

Yang was turned on. By touching her.

Her mind reeled.

It was like that...? Had it always been like that? All those times Yang had complimented her or reached out to touch her or insisted on… eccentric ideas bringing them ambiguously close, was it all because that's what Yang had wanted…? No, no, no no. Because if it had been the case, Blake would've known. From the scent that was so overwhelmingly clear in this moment or from the look in her eyes. And Yang had always had a clear, frank gaze when she would look at her or smile at her.

... Except... there was this one time when Blake had flirted with her in the infirmary; the faunus had thought she'd seen something in Yang's eyes then… but Yang had broken away and Blake had dismissed it as wishful thinking.

And then… then, there was this one time she thought Yang might kiss her. Or. Not just one time; it happened twice. First when Yang had been massaging her back and then, once more a few days ago when she'd comforted her after a nightmare.

... Blake had _also_ dismissed those instances as wishful thinking.

What was happening now however, was good evidence that Blake had been right; that even back then, Yang might've wanted something that crossed the boundaries of friendship. Blake was mystified. How was it possible that she hadn't seen _any_ sort of yearning, anything to betray longing in the way Yang looked at her outside from those very dim fractions of moments?

Was it maybe that Yang herself hadn't understood yet what she wanted? That those moments were nothing but a flicker of instinctual impulses, and Yang hadn't grasped neither what those meant nor what motivated her behavior all those times she flirted? Maybe Yang was _just_ finding out herself about having some interest in the same sex? That maybe even... this, _right now_ , was the first time that Yang was completely aware of it?

Was it simply from accumulation that this insight was forced through? Because there was only so many times that Yang could rationalize her actions? Or was it that another variable factored in and changed the game? If so, then what was different?

For one, this was probably impossible to rationalize as anything else than what it was. Maybe groping her chest could be passed off as curiosity, but focusing on her nipples this way couldn't be explained away. Second, this was also probably the first time that Yang could tell Blake was into it. Sure it wasn't the first time that Blake let her do whatever she wanted nor was it the first time she played along… but this was indubitably the first time that Blake's pleasure in what was happening was transparent. Which meant it was probably the first time Yang was faced with this happening between them being a real option.

Whatever it was, the way the blonde glued herself to her back, pressing her massive breasts to Blake's shoulder blades and her crotch to her ass was just exquisite and _so_ enthralling. Yang hummed in pleasure, moving her fingers from her nipples to again wholly grab her breasts with both hands again, boldly caressing her. Did she not care about waking her? No doubt, Yang knew that what she was doing could only be interpreted one way, and she _had_ to know how high were the risks of Blake 'waking up' being touched this much, didn't she…?

So… what? Did she mean to be so overt about it…? Did she _hope_ to wake her up…? ...For things to escalate, for Blake to reciprocate…?

With all that was going through her mind, the faunus's body was tensing up, she had trouble controlling her breath, and her heart was pounding harder and harder. It was likely a matter of minutes, maybe even _seconds_ that Yang would realize she was awake. And when she did, what would happen? Should Blake try her luck? Could she kiss her…? Or would Yang freak out to have been caught red-handed? Or did she actually want to go further? And if she did, was Yang just curious about trying it with another woman or... did she actually _like_ Blake that way…? Was Yang doing this because she wanted to be something... more…?

A pause marked the moment Yang finally realized she was awake. Blake knew she'd realized because she could feel Yang's heart skip a beat and suddenly thump so very hard against her back, and her blonde partner had also stiffened. Blake wondered if it was up to her now. Or if maybe they would have to talk about it first? Maybe Yang didn't want anything more. Then… Blake should seize the moment and kiss her before she forever lost the opportunity shouldn't she? But what if Yang had enough with this and pushed her away if Blake tried to do anything?

Before she could make up her mind, Yang's lips burned her neck, her body was intently pressed to Blake's back again, and her hands shamelessly resumed roaming on her breasts. Blake felt like she was free-falling, she couldn't believe that Yang's reaction to realizing she was awake and allowing herself to be groped was to double down on it. Her brain shut down; she wouldn't think about how, why, what, or would-be future consequences, to hell with it _all_ , because _Yang_ wanted something _sexual_ from her and that in and of itself trumped _everything_ else. Blake decided to shelf her questions because whatever would happen next likely would answer a load of them and replace them with about a thousand more.

She wanted Yang to know that this was more than fine, that her desires were welcomed, she wanted Yang to know to keep going, so Blake's palm found itself over her partner's fingers, encouraging what she'd been doing by pressing her hand more into her breast, and Blake pushed back with her body, _needing_ to feel her closer and closer.

Evidently emboldened by Blake's encouragement, Yang's attentions increased tenfold; her hands started moving freely across her body, everywhere on her body, and her lips and teeth grazed her ear and Blake thought she was having an out of body experience. She couldn't wrap her head around what was happening, but it was happening alright, and Blake would roll with it no matter how far this led.

It didn't take very long for the faunus to find out just how much her partner wanted; soon, she felt fingers thread near the waistband of her shorts, digging under the fabric just tentatively, ready to retreat at any sign of objection.

In her disbelief, Blake finally turned enough to meet her gaze. Yang looked rapt, exhilarated, eager, and yet still a little bit fretful that she might have pushed too far. Blake couldn't find her voice, but she desperately wanted to somehow convey that Yang had no reason to be anxious about this silent request because there was in fact _nothing_ Blake had ever wanted more than sharing this intimacy with her. Whatever emerged in the faunus's expression evidently got the message across because holding eyes with her for a few seconds had any trace of hesitancy melt off Yang's features. Swiftly, Yang guided her on her back as she moved herself on top of her.

The way Yang gazed down at her as she settled over her was unlike Blake had ever seen before. Even in those dreams, in those fantasizes Blake had had about her, Yang's gaze wasn't as intense as it was now. Evidently, Blake hadn't been able to properly visualize what desire might look like in her partner's eyes _or_ what voraciousness she was capable of. It was captivating, and Blake was completely engrossed in the darkened violet color of her gaze.

Maybe it was how unreservedly and unwaveringly she stared up at her that made Yang self-conscious, but she looked a little embarrassed and couldn't sustain eye contact. As if to distract herself, the blonde quickly moved in and Blake felt her lips on her neck again, her breathing was hot and labored. The faunus almost lost herself in that sensation, but her attention was quickly snatched by the feeling of a hand sliding in her shorts. Blake held her breath. She knew her underwear was soaked and she knew it stuck to the back of Yang's hand as she moved her hand in it and down. As fingers gently glided along her sex with steady, calculated pressure, Blake wondered if it surprised her friend to find her so roused. Had Yang even an inkling of how much Blake was enjoying this? Of how much she wanted her?

Yang's kisses burned her neck and her fingers exploring her felt _so good_ , and her touch wasn't shy at all. Blake squeezed her eyes shut, chock full of surging emotions. She loved this _way_ too much. She loved that Yang was touching her, she loved her lips on her skin, but she also loved how heavy she was, how it heightened her awareness of Yang's body, and she loved how hot the air was getting between them, and she loved the feeling of her chest squeezed on hers. She never knew she could want or enjoy sex this much.

Two fingers burrowed slightly lower as they searched for the opening and Blake held her breath for a second, in complete awe that Yang's fingers were going to be _inside_ her. Just the thought of it when she would fantasize about it would set her body on fire, so the feeling of them entering her… it was… it was indescribable. A powerful shiver made her hair stand on end, flashes of heat made it feel like her skin steamed, and her eyes rolled back. It was such a euphoric high; she nearly came just from feeling them go in. Yang shakily breathed in her hair as she tentatively curled her fingers inside her, and Blake's arms around her shoulders tightened, her hands got lost in the soft golden curls. Then Yang slowly started moving her fingers, and her ear was right next to Blake's mouth but Blake still couldn't repress the deeply lustful moan that rose from her chest.

Yang _liked_ it. Blake could tell she liked it because with a quiet gasp, Yang pressed herself closer and her fingers picked up pace, like she wanted to goad another moan out of her.

Rumbling reverberated in her throat and chest, and Blake might've cared in any other circumstances, but her partner finding out about her purring was the last thing on her mind right then. Because at that moment, Yang's fingers were deep inside her and _that_ was _wild_. Yang's hand was markedly larger than her own so her fingers could reach much deeper than Blake's could, and adding to that how Yang pressed her palm to her as she fingered her, how it let Blake rub into her hand… the faunus was doing everything she could to hold off her orgasm. She wanted this to last, she _needed_ Yang to keep touching her, she couldn't let it be over so soon. Her legs spread wider like she had no control over them, like her body wanted to offer itself to her, and Blake was hit again with the notion that _Yang_ was fingering her, _Yang_ , and it flushed her entire body with intense desire. And _god_ , Yang smelled _so_ _good_ , and her hair like a veil around her only made her scent even more overpowering. Yang's skin stuck to hers with how heated they'd became and that was so hot, and Blake tried to hold off more but her arousal kept overtaking her, and overtaking her further until she ultimately lost grip on reality.

Overheating and dizzy, Blake felt the tension drop. Her purring faded and her entire body unclenched, leaving her slightly quivering. As the euphoria cleared, she felt Yang take her fingers out. Blake wished she hadn't. She wanted her to keep pumping her fingers, to keep pushing deeper, to make her cum again and again and again. Because Yang had made her cum. Yang had _actually_ , _willingly_ done that. She wanted to keep feeling like Yang owned her completely, feeling her overwhelmingly around her and inside of her.

Though she'd finished, Yang wasn't moving off. The golden girl was very stiff, like she didn't know how to go from there, but she wasn't moving off either. Blake wondered… was she waiting for her to reciprocate? Was it _actually_ okay for Blake to reciprocate…? Of course, with what _Yang_ had done, it'd be only expected that it would be okay for Blake to do so, but she couldn't seem to process it. She could barely believe what had just happened, and she truly burned to ask Yang what took over her, yet... she also knew that voicing any question would undoubtedly put a halt to this, and she absolutely could not let it end. The tension in Yang's body over her seemed to only be growing and Blake braced herself; she gathered her nerves and made herself take the lead. Her hands soothingly moved down her back and up again, trying to first massage away the tension, before she let one of her hands caress the side of her breast, then gently moving to grab a hold of it. Yang didn't tear away, she didn't budge an inch, so it looked like she indeed _had_ been waiting for Blake to touch her back.

The faunus exhaled hotly, feeling desire flare from deep within her loins again. It burned through to her fingertips, and she pressed her forehead to her friend's shoulder, trying to control her breathing as she dared let her hands wander the rest her body. She'd seen herself do this so many times in her fantasies, but _actually_ feeling Yang's firm yet voluptuous shape, her strong, muscular body which somehow retained mindblowingly shapely curves was an experience beyond anything she could ever have anticipated. It brought to the surface something primal, and she really didn't mean to grip her ass the way she did, but when she did, Yang let out a pleased sound somewhere between a laugh and moan which only fanned the flames of the blaze consuming Blake's entire being.

"That was really sexy," the faunus heard herself say. Blake hadn't wanted to say anything, but it escaped her against her will. She was completely losing control, but was there any reason to care at this point? Yang _wanted_ her.

As if to corroborate this, she felt Yang press her chest more into the hand that had remained on her breast. Exhilaration made Blake's breath start to grow heavy again. Yang was encouraging her to touch her. Yang… was evidently hoping for Blake to make her cum too. And the simple idea that Yang wanted that from her made her mind reel, never mind trying to wrap her head around the fact that it was looking like Yang would cum lying over her.

As her hands now assertively discovered her body, trying to engrave in her mind every inch of its form, Blake pressed her mouth to her neck, slowly brushing her lips up to her jaw. She had hoped that as Yang would understand where she might want to go that Yang might move and meet her motion to kiss her, but Yang's head obstinately remained with her cheek pressed to Blake's temple... like maybe she didn't want to face her. Or maybe… like she didn't want to look at her. Was this embarrassment? It felt to Blake like it might be. Yang evidently was enjoying this a lot so it wasn't like her reluctance was about having sex. Still, Blake wondered which part might embarrass her. Having these desires for another woman? Or… for Blake specifically? Or was Yang simply shy when it came to sex? That last thought was so very endearing given how big she talked.

Whatever it was, the faunus gave up on trying to insist on a kiss; she didn't want to shatter the moment. After all she _had_ told herself she'd roll with it and ponder everything later. There would be plenty of time to ponder everything later. For now, Yang was willingly surrendering her body to be at the mercy of her touch, and Blake very much intended on giving her exactly what she wanted.

 **Brighter Extras -end**

 **Head over to the main fic for the complete scene in Yang's POV :)**


End file.
